A Rose By Any Other Name
by Indigo Flare
Summary: A discovery veers Mikaela's life down a road she isn't sure she wants to travel. Post ROTF. Not a Pairing.
1. Chapter 1

**A Rose By Any Other Name**

_**Summary: A discovery veers Mikaela's life down a road she isn't sure she wants to travel. Not a Pairing.**_

Disclaimer: I don't own transformers, at all. Course, if we wanna get technical... nah.

Time translator:

Breem – 8.3 minutes

Joor – 6.5 hours

Meta-cycle – 1 year

Orn – 13 days

Vorn – 83 years

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"That's exactly right, Mikaela!"

Mikaela smiled, wiping her hands on an already filthy rag. "Well, it's similar to the servos you were showing me yesterday, right?"

Ratchet nodded, a proud smile on his face. "Exactly! You're picking this up faster than I expected!"

"Not really, just got lucky..." Mikaela shrugged and blushed at the compliment.

Ratchet followed her movements around the medbay. "You don't give yourself enough credit. You have a talent, sparkling, don't sell yourself short."

Mikaela successfully held in her laughter for all of two seconds, before doubling over at the unintentional pun. Ratchet was soon laughing too, realizing just what he said. "Slag it, you know what I mean."

Mikaela smiled up at her mentor. "Yeah, thanks Ratch. By the way, what was it you mentioned the other day about the different scan levels on humans and cybertronians?"

"Ah, well, your average cybertronian is capable of three different levels of scans, each reaching a more ...penetrative strength. A level one scan will show what is on the very surface of what is being scanned, a level two scan will show the make-up and strength of the object. A level three scan will give a more detailed list of what makes the subject tick, if it is alive, etc. It's most useful when dealing with an organic lifeform."

Mikaela had started to put tools away as she listened, but stopped and turned to give Ratchet her undivided attention.

"Now, there are two more scan levels, but usually only medics and scientists are capable of reaching them. Reason being, they take up more energy, and prove somewhat distracting. A level four scan will start to show weaknesses and breaks in armor and protoforms, and a level five scan will tell me everything I need to know about whoever is on the table, ins and outs of their wiring, the timing of their spark-pulse, any hot spots in their processors, whether or not they're a pretender, anything."

Mikaela nodded. "So, what does a level five scan show about a human?"

Ratchet looked thoughtful. "Actually, nothing more than what a level three scan shows on a human. A level three scan is enough to show everything about a human's system. The level four and five scans are technically meant only for cybertronians. If I were to perform a level four or five scan on you, it wouldn't tell me anything I don't already know. I first tried it on Sam right after Mission City, then on a few of the soldiers milling about. Saves energy on my part, anyway."

Mikaela chuckled at this. "So, there's no point to using more than a level three scan on an organic, it would just waste time and energy?"

Ratchet nodded. "Exactly."

Mikaela hmm'd and looked at her watch. "I gotta start heading home, I promised my Dad I'd be back in time for dinner."

"I'll take you home this time, I could use an outing."

"K, just let me go and grab my purse, I'll meet you out front."

Mikaela darted down the hallway towards the small room she used while on the base, punching in a code and sweeping in. She located her purse, glancing around at the mess, then sighed and headed back out the door. Running around to the front of the hangar, she found Ratchet waiting in his alt mode. His door opened and she climbed in the passenger side as Ratchet's holoform activated.

As they drove towards Mikaela's house about two hours south, they chatted about this and that. Sometimes about mechanics, sometimes about Cybertron, and sometimes about human life and culture.

About a mile from Mikaela's house, Ratchet changed the subject. "Your skills talents have really been blooming, Mikaela, more so than any other human I've tried to train."

Mikaela started to protest, but Ratchet cut her off. "Ah ah, what did we talk about?"

This made Mikaela chuckle, remembering the pun.

"Now, you told me that you had no interest in going to college, and that you couldn't really afford it. Well, I've thought of another option for you. Just something for you to consider."

Mikaela looked over at him curiously. "And just what would that be?"

"I've spoken to Major Lennox, and he thinks that we can get away with offering you an internship at Diego Garcia."

Mikaela's eyes widened and lit up. "An internship? Are you for real?!"

Ratchet laughed, "Yes! I am 'for real'! On paper, you would be an intern in the motor pool department, but you would be training directly under myself..." Ratchet frowned slightly, "...and possibly Wheeljack, though I'm still not sure how I feel about that."

Mikaela was beside herself, shaking her head, unable to say anything. "Wow, just... WOW! So, I would be living on the base?"

"Yes, you would. That's why I'm telling you now, I want you to think about this over the next week. You won't be riding back and forth to your house every few days, you would be part of the resident staff on the base."

Mikaela sobered and nodded as she ran this through her head.

Ratchet glanced over at her. "Talk to your father about it, you can be honest and say you were offered an internship on a military base, it's a civilian position, so you won't have to join the army. I'll leave it up to you whether or not you tell him about myself and the others."

They had pulled up to her street, not right up to her house since a bright yellow search and rescue vehicle would earn some strange looks from the neighbors. Mikaela was already thinking about the pros and cons of the offer. She turned and gave Ratchet's holoform a hug, which he happily returned.

"Thanks Ratch, for everything."

Ratchet chuckled, "You're welcome youngling. Now, I can hear your stomach starting to fuss, go and eat. I'll see you next week."

"Next week, see ya!"

Mikaela hopped out and turned to give Ratchet another wave before practically skipping to her house. Ratchet pulled away, heading back to base at a leisurely pace.

Mikaela smelled pizza as she entered the small house. Michael Banes was gathering paper plates and napkins beside the pizza on the tiny kitchen table.

"Hey dad!"

She went over and kissed him on the cheek, then noticed that he seems somewhat subdued. "Hey baby girl, welcome home! How was your day?"

"It was great, I've got some news, but, what's wrong?"

Michael sighed and put the plates on the table. Mikaela got a slice of pizza, some part of her mind acknowledging that Ratchet would pitch a fit if he saw what she was eating, but knowing that for some reason she always felt a lot better after devouring a pizza, or fries, or a big greasy burger!

"Well, my news isn't the happiest, hon."

Mikaela stopped and stared, wondering just what had happened.

Michael looked like he was facing a firing squad. "You know how the economy is right now, and... well, me fresh from prison and all..."

"Dad, what's going on??"

Michael sighed. "The shop isn't making enough money, Mikky, I can't afford to keep it up."

Mikaela gaped at her father. "You're shutting down the shop?!"

"Yeah, I have to shut down the shop."

Mikaela could only stare for a moment before collecting her scattered thoughts. "Couldn't you get a loan or something...?"

"No one'll give me one, baby girl. I tried, believe me, I tried just about everything I can think of. Reality is, I can't afford to keep the shop, it's gotta go."

Mikaela stared down at her pizza, suddenly no longer hungry at all.

"That doesn't mean we're gonna sink. I can find a job at another shop, but there aren't that many here in Tranquility."

Mikaela looked up at him sharply.

Michael raised his hands in surrender. "Now, I've been searching around every single shop in and around the city. I don't want you to think that I'm just trying to get outta here, I kinda like Tranquility, and I know this is where all your friends are. I'm just trying to give you a heads-up on the situation."

Mikaela was floored. "Why didn't you tell me this sooner?"

Michael reached over to pat her on the head. "I didn't want you to worry your little head over it. Someone your age should be out going to parties, and hanging out with friends, not worrying about whether her 'man-child fresh out of prison father' is going to be able to keep his feet."

Mikaela's eyes started to well up, and Mike came around the table to hug her.

"I just might find a job here in the city, I'd prefer it actually. Then we won't have to go anywhere! Either way, I don't want you to worry about it, alright? This isn't going to happen in the next couple days, we're talking at least a few weeks down the road."

Mikaela managed a small smile, and nodded, pulling away from her father.

Michael sat back down across from his daughter. "Let's eat before this gets cold, I know how much you hate cold pizza!"

Mikaela gave a small laugh, finding her appetite returning. Her father lifted his soda for a long swig. "Now, you said you had news, and judging by the grin you had, it was good news, let's hear it!"

Mikaela took a bite out of her pizza before speaking. "I've been offered an internship on a military base."

Michael spit his soda out on the floor beside him, coughing slightly, then looking at his daughter incredulously. "You WHAT??"

"I... was offered an internship in the mechanics' department on a military base!" she stuttered, taken aback by her father's reaction. Michael looked at her for a moment more, his expression unreadable, before standing up to get some paper towels to clean the mess he'd just made. Mikaela was watching him carefully. "It's a civilian position, so I wouldn't have to join the army or go to boot camp or anything. Thing is though, I'd be living on the base."

Michael was listening with a neutral expression. After the mess was cleaned, he returned to his seat and looked his daughter in the eye. "What exactly do they want you for?"

Mikaela shrugged. "Tune-ups, cleaning engines, whatever a mechanic intern is supposed to do I guess."

"Did you accept?"

Mikaela shook her head. "Not yet, I want to make sure you're going to be alright."

Michael sighed at her. "Mikky, I'm gonna be just fine. Now, I'm not gonna pretend to not be at least a little worried, what kind of base is this?"

Mikaela almost told him about the autobots, but stopped herself at the last minute, not knowing why she couldn't just tell him. "Well, just a military base. They have army, air force, marines, all branches. It also acts as a storage facility for their jets and ground vehicles, so that's why they want a few more mechanics there I guess. I might even get to work on some of the aircraft! What are you worried about?"

Michael went quiet at this, looking like he was about to tell her no, but not wanting to. "I'm not trying to sound selfish baby girl, but I just got you back. Part of me was hoping we could stay together. On the other hand, you're probably not going to get another opportunity like this! And I don't want to be responsible for holding you back."

"Dad," she started, worried about how her father was acting, "what's wrong?"

Michael gave her a measuring look, but smiled suddenly. "Nothing, Mikky, just a father watching his daughter grow up, is all."

Mikaela hesitantly returned the smile. "You think I should take it?"

Michael took a deep breath. "I think you should do what makes you happy. If you really want to take the internship, then I think you should jump at it!"

Mikaela jumped up and hugged him. "Thanks dad!"

"Alright then. Your pizza's gettin cold!"

Mikaela made a face, then laughed with her father.

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I love reviews!


	2. Chapter 2

AN: Thanks for the reviews! Most of this story is already written, so I'll be trying to update this story at least once a week!

"speaking"

'thoughts'

"_cellphone"_

**::internal comm::**

Time translator:

Breem – 8.3 minutes

Joor – 6.5 hours

Meta-cycle – 1 year

Orn – 13 days

Vorn – 83 years

TTTTTTTTTTTTTT

The next week found Mikaela at the shop. Even though they would be shutting down in a few weeks, they still had a few customers waiting for services. Mikaela had finished up a custom paint job on a gorgeous Harley Davidson, and started another on a similar model. She wondered what the autobots would say if they ever found out about her artistic side, smiling to herself at some of the things she imagined the twins asking her to paint on their sides, then shuddering at the thought of what Prowl would say if he found out she was the one who painted them! The thought also reminded her that Ratchet would be on his way later that day to pick her up.

At the end of the day, Mikaela waved to the last mechanic leaving for the night. This left Mikaela alone in the shop, her father having left early to do some job hunting. As she was cleaning up, she noticed a drippy oil can still sitting up on a top shelf. Knowing it would be hell to try to clean it after it had leaked everywhere, she grabbed a ladder to reach it. As she set the ladder against the shaky shelving, it knocked into the shelf, and she didn't notice some of the oil splattering onto the rungs.

Reaching up to try and get the can, her foot slid on the oily rung. She didn't have time to grab onto anything as she fell, hard, her leg finding a jagged edge of a car part on the way down. She was nearly blinded by the white-hot pain shooting through her leg. Yelling out in pain, she looked down and to her horror, saw a large gash in her leg all the way down to the bone! Feeling faint and sickened, she shakily pulled out her phone to dial 911, but stopped.

As she stared blearily at the gash, she noticed something besides blood seeping out. There was something bright blue that reminded her of energon... and the part of the bone that was exposed looked almost...shiny. Thinking that she was going crazy, and barely able to think through the agony, she called Ratchet in a panic.

"_Mikaela, I'm on my w-"_

"RATCHET I'M HURT!!!

Ratchet's spark nearly stopped. _"You're- were you attacked?! Where are you?!"_

"No I fell at my dad's shop! God, please, Ratch it hurts!!!"

"_Call an ambulance, I'll meet you at the hospi..."_

"NO!! I CAN'T!! MY LEG, THERE'S SOMETHING WRONG, THERE'S BLUE STUFF COMING OUT...!"

Now Ratchet was _really_ concerned, wondering if she'd hit her head and running the symptoms of a concussion through his processors.

"_Deep breaths, I'm almost there! What do you mean by blue stuff?!"_

"I'm getting dizzy..."

"_Take deep, even breaths Mikaela, stay awake!!"_

Fearing for his pupil, Ratchet sent a data packet to Optimus, informing him of the situation, then called Bumblebee. Said bot was parked at Sam's house, looking forward to the drive with Sam they'd planned the day before.

_**::Ratchet to Bumblebee, respond!::**_

Something in Ratchet's tone put Bumblebee on high alert.

_**::Bumblebee here.::**_

_**::What's your current position?::**_

_**::On standby at the Witwicky residence.::**_

_**::I need you to go straight to Mikaela's shop, she's injured and needs help! I'm still 20 minutes away.::**_

Bumblebee had already pulled out of the drive and was down the street.

_**::En route now, ETA 4.7 minutes. Was she attacked?::**_

_**::No, it was an accident. But she says she can't call an ambulance, something about blue stuff coming from the wound. She's terrified and in pain, I can't make sense of what she's saying. Get there as fast as you can!::**_

_**::ETA 3.2 minutes!:: **_Bumblebee accelerated further, worried for his young friend.

"_Mikaela, Bumblebee is only 3 minutes away, he's going to be there soon, can you stay awake?"_

"...I think so..." she sobbed.

"_You're going to be alright, youngling."_

After what seemed like a small eternity, Mikaela heard Bee arriving and pulling around the back. Activating his holoform, Bee ran in calling out for her. She sobbed with relief.

"I'm over here!!"

Bumblebee's blond form rounded the corner and swore under his breath as he knelt beside her to assess the damage. He did his best to assure Mikaela that she would be alright, but the injury frightened him... humans were so _frail_!

_**::Bumblebee to Ratchet, I've reached her, she's conscious, but pale and shaking. The wound is bleeding freely.::**_

_**::Get something to wrap her in, you need to keep her internal temperature up.::**_

Bee quickly took Sam's sleeping bag out of his trunk, carefully wrapping it around Mikaela. He then forced himself to look at the injury on her leg.

_**::Ratchet, her leg, it looks- the gash goes all the way down to the bone!::**_

_**::Slag it... do you see anything along the lines of what she was talking about earlier?::**_

Bumblebee did, in fact, see what Mikaela had been referring to. And the sight confused and shocked him.

_**::...Yes! I would almost say I'm looking at part of a damaged protoform, Ratchet! It's sparking, and there's energon seeping out along with human blood!::**_

This threw Ratchet off completely. He was so taken off guard that he swerved into another lane, almost getting into an accident himself.

_**::...Bumblebee, are you sure?!::**_

_**::I know for a fact it's energon. But how did she end up with energon in her system?!::**_

_**::ETA 7 minutes. Make sure she is lying down, elevate her injured leg, wrap something clean around it tightly. Keep her warm and calm.::**_

Ratchet, not caring who may have been watching, flipped on his emergency lights and sirens, increasing to speeds never seen on any Earth highway.

Mikaela was unaware of the whole conversation. "Bee? Am I going crazy?"

"No, you aren't crazy, just injured, you'll be alright!" he assured her gently.

Bumblebee helped her lie down completely. He saw Mikaela's sweater slung over the back of the chair. "Mikaela, I have to wrap your leg to stop the bleeding."

Mikaela shook her head no, but took a breath as Bee started to wrap her leg. The pain almost knocked her out, but she managed to stay awake, crying for him to make it stop. Bee sat next to her head and stroked her hair, offering what comfort he could.

Ratchet reached the shop in record time, activated his holoform and made a beeline for Mikaela, who was still in a state of near panic. After a cursory scan, he determined, to his and his patient's relief, that he could give her something for the pain. "It's alright Mikaela, morphine's coming." He gave her a shot as she watched him with wide eyes, then he peered more closely at her leg. He was alarmed to find there _was_ indeed energon bleeding out with the blood, and a few sparks flying timidly from the bone itself.

Mikaela at first tried to resist the effects of the anesthesia, too afraid to slip into unconsciousness. Bumblebee noticed and stroked her hair.

"It's okay Mikaela, we're here with you. Don't fight it."

As she drifted off, Ratchet appeared in her line of sight and took her hand in his own. "Deep breaths, youngling, you're going to be alright. We're going to figure this out."

With that assurance, Mikaela finally allowed herself to be swallowed by the blissful embrace of unconsciousness.

Bumblebee wanted to accompany Ratchet and Mikaela back to the base, worried about his young friend. Ratchet did a field dressing on Mikaela's injury, and Bee helped him load her into his cabin. Ratchet quickly turned to the scout.

"Go back and pick up Sam, then head to base. He's going to want to be there for Mikaela."

Before Ratchet left, he cautioned Bumblebee not to mention the energon or the metal in Mikaela's leg to Sam until they had a better idea of what was going on. Bumblebee agreed with him, knowing the situation would stress his charge out enough, and rightfully so! Bumblebee quickly cleaned the area of the shop, leaving no trace of blood or energon behind, then deactivated his holoform, pulling back onto the road and heading quickly to Sam's house.

At the Witwicky residence, Sam looked outside and saw Bee missing. He picked up his cell phone and called him, wondering what happened. "Hey Bee, where'd ya go? I thought we were gonna go for a drive?"

"_Don't panic Sam, but Mikaela fell at the shop and injured her leg. Ratchet is taking her back to base."_

Sam paled. "Is she alright?!"

"_Ratchet seems to think she will be, he took her back to base instead of the emergency room, so we can take that as a good sign. I'm going to be back in about 2 minutes, be ready to go."_

Sam was already pulling on jeans and searching out his shoes. "Alright, I'll be ready!"

************

Ratchet called ahead to the base, apprising Optimus of the situation and ordering Jolt to standby in the medbay. As Ratchet came to a careful but hurried stop, Jolt was there beside him, and reached into the already open cabin to gently lift the unconscious Mikaela up onto a human-sized hospital bed. Ratchet transformed quickly and joined his apprentice at Mikaela's side.

Jolt hissed in sympathy as Ratchet removed the field dressing. "What happened?"

"She said she fell. Must have fallen pretty far to get this kind of gash. Or hit something on the way down. I'm surprised there's no broken bones! She has a few bruises here and there, but there's something strange about her leg."

Ratchet again peered down at the injury, Jolt looked stunned. "Is that energon?!"

"Sure as slag looks like it." Ratchet shakes his head. "Alright, we need to get to work before an infection settles in."

Jolt went about gathering the necessary tools, concerned and confused about what he had just witnessed.

"Oh, and Jolt? Not a word of this to anyone just yet, I want to know what's really going on here before we cause any panic."

*************

There was really no other explanation then that someone had implanted Mikaela's leg with cybertronian components. As they had cleaned and stitched her leg, Ratchet's thoughts had turned to Sector Seven, and what they had said about the technology they'd reverse engineered from Megatron. It made his energon boil to think that they may have been taking parts from Megatron, then going around implanting young humans with the machinery to see what would happen.

**::Ratchet to Prime::**

**::Prime here, go ahead.::**

Ratchet vented his intakes.

**::So far as I can tell, someone has implanted cybertronian components into Mikaela's leg. I don't know why when or how, but it's there.::**

Optimus was stunned into silence for several long minutes before asking for clarification.

**::Prime, the bone in Mikaela's leg is made of metal, cybertronian metal. I never saw it before because it IS covered in a thin layer of organic bone, just enough to fool the scanners. Though how that was accomplished... I'd have to some fairly invasive tests.::**

Optimus didn't respond for a brief moment. **::I'm tempted to contact Banechek, but on the off chance that he knows nothing about it... I don't want any humans to know about this that don't need to know.::**

**::Understood. I'm calibrating for a level 5 scan on the effected area, I'll let you know if I find out anything new.::**

**::She's in good hands. Prime out.::**

Ratchet had, some time ago, noticed Jolt's fading energy and dismissed him for some recharge, despite his apprentice's protesting. Concerned, and still reeling from the initial revelation about his other student, Ratchet began calibrating to do a level 5 scan on Mikaela to see how much of her body had been altered. He adjusted his optics for several seconds, then scanned her leg. As he scanned, he noticed the metal components continuing up past her leg. Backing up slowly, he ran a scan over her entire form and was _floored_ by what he found.

'What in the _pit_? That can't be right...'

Thinking it was a glitch, he shook his head, re-calibrated, and scanned again, his expression turning to one of absolute shock when he got the same results.

His reaction was barely more than a choked whisper. "_Primus_!"

Ratchet sent an urgent comm to Optimus, who came running in not even a minute later to find an utterly shocked and stunned CMO.

"Ratchet, what's wrong?"

Ratchet has a look of complete disbelief. "Prime, I- I think I have it backwards. I think it's the _human_ parts that have been added, not the cybertronian parts!"

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Every time someone doesn't review, Sunny and Sides play a prank on me... Prowl can only keep them in the brig for so long. ...and the world only has so much neon paint. XD


	3. Chapter 3

Thank you for all the kind reviews, I'm glad you're all loving this!

Disclaimer: Ask me no questions, I'll tell you no lies! =P

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Previously...

_Ratchet had a look of complete disbelief. "Prime, I- I think I have it backwards. I think it's the human parts that have been added, not the cybertronian parts!"_

***

Optimus looked incredulous. "What do you mean?"

Ratchet was trying to find the right wording. "She's not human at all, Prime, she's... one of us! All these organic tissues and organs are covering up her protoform like armor!" He projected the scan, showing Mikaela's true form underneath her organic disguise.

Optimus could only stare. "Is she a pretender? Surely we would have detected her signature..."

Ratchet's expression turned to excitement. "No no, she's not a pretender. Prime, from what my scans are showing me, she's just a sparkling, not even past her first vorn!"

Optimus was still in disbelief, spluttering before he could complete a sentence. "This can't be right, two years in her company, we would have noticed! I can't detect any kind of energy signature aside from what humans normally give off."

Ratchet zoomed in on her spark chamber. "See this little chip? It's an emitter of some kind, and it's scattering her spark signature to mimic an organic's energy output. Genius, really!"

Optimus shook his head slowly. "How did she end up in the guise of a human? Especially one that looks so much like her father?

Ratchet vented his intakes as he scratched at his head. "That's what's confusing me. She DOES look like her father..." He stared off for a minute. "You know, there was an old colleague of mine who talked about an idea for this sort of disguise... you ever heard the name Hoist?"

Optimus nodded, Ratchet continued, "He was working on a theory for a program specifically designed for hiding sparklings from the decepticons in an emergency. From what I can remember, he said it would work the same as our alt forms, we scan a vehicle, and take on the shell of whatever we've scanned. This, however, would scan an organic life form's DNA, and create an organic shell around the sparkling's protoform based on that DNA. At least, that's the idea he presented."

Optimus thought on this for a moment. "How would they set up a scan for one so young? It seems an invasive thing to subject a sparkling to."

Ratchet gave a helpless shrug. "I can't tell just yet, that would take some testing and I don't think Mikaela will be up to that for some time." Ratchet sighed. "I'm not even certain if this _is_ Hoist's work."

Optimus gazed at the projection for a moment, wondering where her creators were. A sparkling that young... they wouldn't have left her alone for that long without a slagging good reason. "I wonder where her creators are?"

Ratchet's expression turned sympathetic. "She's been here for this long, they either can't find her or they aren't online to look." He froze then, as a sudden thought occurred to him. "...Or she was born here?"

Optimus glanced questioningly at his CMO. "If there were other cybertronians on Earth before we came, they would've detected us by now, unless something happened to them."

Ratchet looked like he was bracing himself for what he was about to say. "Prime, the only mech we know for sure was on Earth a quarter-vorn ago was Megatron."

Optimus flinched visibly, before turning worried optics to their young friend. "But then, how would she have turned out to look like her father? Your theory about Hoist's experimental programming would explain that, but not if she was sparked here."

Ratchet grimaced. "Keep in mind, Sector 7 was experimenting with Allspark energy AND Megatron himself. There's no way for me to tell if this is a result of Hoist's experiment or the humans'. Hoist only ever spoke of it to me on one or two occasions, and it was in passing. And what are the odds of a sparkling landing here?? On the same planet as the Allspark, Megatron, the seven Primes, the very planet that the last Prime now calls his home? And even more astronomical, the odds of us finding her like this!"

Optimus didn't know what to say to that, though he didn't want to imagine having to explain to Mikaela that Megatron might be her real father. "Don't mention any of our theories on her parentage to her when she wakes, or the others, not yet. She'll have enough on her processors dealing with what you've found."

Ratchet could only nod solemnly.

***

Mikaela awakened several hours later to see Ratchet leaning over her, looking slightly concerned, and somewhat giddy. "Ow..."

Ratchet scanned her again. "How do you feel, little one?"

Somewhere in the back of her mind Mikaela bristled at the nickname, but shrugged it off just as fast. "My leg hurts."

Ratchet nodded, finishing the scan. "Anything else? Are you still dizzy? Nauseous? Any flashing lights?"

Mikaela took a deep breath. "No, just my leg, and my arms and back feel bruised."

Ratchet raised his eye ridges slightly. "Yes, that was quite a spill you took!"

Mikaela manages a small smirk. "Give it to me straight Ratch, how long do I have to live?"

Ratchet gave a small chuckle, then sobered. Mikaela frowned at his expression. "Ratchet, what's wrong? Did you find out what that blue stuff was?"

Ratchet hesitated for only a moment. "I've run several scans, Mikaela, up to and including a full level five scan, and the blue liquid you saw seeping from the wound was energon. It was coming from the cybertronian parts that were damaged when you fell."

Mikaela gaped at him. "Cybertronian...? There's mechanical implants in my leg?!"

Ratchet chose his words as carefully as he could, not wanting to shock his young patient. At the same time, though, he realized there was no easy way to explain what he'd found. "Mikaela, it isn't just your leg that is housing cybertronian components, it's your entire body."

Mikaela's face turned ashen. "God, when did this happen?! Why would someone add cybertronian parts-?"

Ratchet shook his head slowly. "No, Mikaela, no one added these things to your system, you were born with them."

Mikaela stopped and blinked once, then twice at Ratchet. "...Wha...?"

Ratchet vented his intakes before continuing. "It was the human components that were added, not the cybertronian parts."

"...wait, what?!"

Ratchet activated a projection of the scan he'd taken of her earlier, showing her metal protoform, and even a small spark!

Mikaela laughed weakly, "Oh, very funny. Hell of a time for a joke Ratchet, how long did it take you to make that?"

Ratchet looked almost hurt, "Mikaela, I'm not joking. This isn't something I would just toss about, I'm being absolutely serious.

Mikaela stared and spluttered before being able to form a coherent sentence, "You can't be- You're seriously- am I ...one of you? An autobot?!"

Ratchet seemed almost jovial, "It would appear that way, yes!"

Mikaela was close to tears, "But I... would've known, YOU would've known, right? And my dad!"

Ratchet reminded her of the different scanning levels used on humans and autobots. Mikaela could only stare at her mentor, stunned, and wonder how she managed to go through her life not realizing that she was an alien! Not to mention two years in the company of the autobots without them even noticing the slightest difference! Ratchet again marveled at the genius of the design, explaining the scattered spark signature before Mikaela made a sound like a cross between a laugh and a sob. "K, I'm gonna go back to sleep now. When I wake up, we're gonna try this again, okay?"

Ratchet nodded, confused and concerned, but allowed her to drift off.

***

An announcement went out through internal comm to all autobots on base to gather in the conference room, pending an important update. Most of the bots had heard of Mikaela's accident, and worried that she might be in worse condition than had been let on. Optimus sent a private comm to Bumblebee asking him not to bring Sam just yet, as the news would likely be very upsetting to him. Now the scout was _really_ worried, what had happened?

Bumblebee and Sam had arrived shortly after Ratchet, but had been kept out of the medbay while the medics worked. So they had both trudged to the rec room to update the other bots and wait for news. Bee had refrained from telling Sam about the energon he'd seen leaking from Mikaela's leg, both because he'd been unsure how to broach the subject, and he didn't want to worry his charge more than he already was. When the comm came, Bumblebee told Sam it was an 'autobot only' meeting, to which Sam had hesitantly deferred. He knew the bots had some things they just couldn't tell him, and he accepted that.

In said conference room, the bots waited somewhat impatiently for their leader and CMO to arrive, whispering and chatting in cyberspeak about what the announcement could be about. When Optimus and Ratchet made their way into the room, all fell silent at their expressions. Optimus and Ratchet looked at each other and seemed to confer for a moment before Optimus stepped forward. "As you all must know by now, Mikaela suffered a somewhat serious injury to her leg yesterday. She said she fell off a ladder onto a metal beam, left a good sized gash in her right leg."

The autobots gave various grimaces and hisses of sympathy. Even Ironhide was visibly concerned. "She alright?"

Optimus nodded "Yes, she's going to be fine. That is not, however, the main reason I called you all in here. Because of this injury, Ratchet discovered something really quite extraordinary about our young friend."

Here Ratchet activated the hologram of the metal parts in Mikaela's leg. It took a moment before they realized what they were looking at, and the bots all gaped at what they were seeing. Sunstreaker narrowed his optics. "It almost looks like a leg from one of our protoforms!"

Optimus cycled air through his intakes before continuing. "Yes, exactly. And it isn't just on her leg... Mikaela is not human."

This caused a very brief silence, followed by a general uproar among the bots. Some asked if she was really Mikaela, others asking if she was a pretender, or a decepticon spy, others just shook their heads in disbelief. Prowl's head began to smoke before he promptly fell over, Wheeljack barely catching him before he hit the floor. Optimus helped revive him, before calming everyone down. "No, she is not a pretender. And yes, she is the same Mikaela we met two years ago."

Sideswipe motioned towards the hologram. "Then what gives?!"

Optimus raised his hands to calm his soldiers. "Mikaela is one of us, but she is very, very young. Ratchet has estimated her age at a quarter-vorn."

The autobots gazes soften, then express general confusion. Jolt turned to Ratchet. "How could we have not noticed this? I believe we have all, at some point or another, scanned Mikaela and other humans on the base. I've never noticed any difference."

The other bots nod their heads in agreement. Ratchet stepped forward, explaining about the emitter chip in her spark chamber.

"After the event in Mission City, I tried doing a level five scan on Sam... it produced nothing more than what a level three scan had shown. It became a general understanding that anything above level three was superfluous. If I had scanned Mikaela instead of Sam, we would've discovered her true nature much sooner."

Bumblebee hadn't said a word, nor played a single note of music the entire time. He simply stood, staring at the holographic projection of his young friend as a single thought permeated his processors. 'What's Sam going to say?'

Optimus again gathered the attention of all present. "If and when you interact with Mikaela, treat the situation gently. She's lived her life believing she's human, that she's related to her human creators, and the world around her. Finding out she is possibly an alien to this planet was a difficult thing for her to hear."

The bots' expressions turned sad. Prowl, now mostly recovered, turned questioning optics to his leader. "Do we have any clue who her creators are?"

Ratchet glanced briefly at Optimus. "None. Mikaela was far too young to retain any clear memories. And I believe some of her clearer memories are being blocked, to help hide what she is from unfriendly optics."

Optimus raised himself to his full height. "As we must do. If the decepticons were to discover her..."

Ironhide spun his cannons. "Not on MY watch!"

Sideswipe drew a sword. "Or mine!"

Sunstreaker stood even with his brother. "Same here!"

More agreements and vows of protection were heard from every bot in the room, as they all resolved to never let any harm befall the newly discovered sparkling.

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Another chapter done!

Next chapter may be delayed because of holidays and the fact that I'm moving to a new place at the end of the month.

I have found that reviews are actually really good at keeping the twins in the brig... and Wheeljack invented something that didn't blow u- (_**BOOOM!**_)

...gotta go... _


	4. Chapter 4

AN: I'm back! And to celebrate the new year/new apartment (and to apologize for the long wait), I'm posting TWO chapters! Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own Transformers, or any characters therein.

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Her body hurt. Everything ached. Her mind still fuzzy from the anesthetic, she couldn't remember what had happened. Slowly, fearing more pain, she cracked open her eyes. The familiar lights of the medbay greeted her. She wondered groggily on the how and why for a few moments, before giving up and closing her eyes once more. Then, they snapped open as the conversation she'd had with Ratchet pushed to the forefront of her mind with all the subtlety of a plasma rifle.

She bolted upright, immediately regretting it as the action aggravated her already abused back. Pausing a moment to catch her breath, she swept her gaze around the room, looking for a certain yellow autobot CMO. He wasn't there. Confused and in pain, Mikaela settled back down under the warm blankets, wondering just where the medic had gone to. Her thoughts were interrupted as said medical officer quietly entered the medbay with Jolt in tow.

Ratchet's optics immediately sought out his young patient, smiling gently when he saw she was awake. "Ah, welcome back."

Mikaela found herself unable to respond right away, prompting Ratchet to move to her side and activate his scanners. Mikaela took some deep breaths before speaking. "Ratchet? Please..."

She paused, trying to keep a firm hold on her fears. Jolt also came to her side, concerned. Ratchet's optics softened, nodding once for her to continue.

"Please tell me it was all a weird dream."

Jolt glanced at Ratchet hesitantly, who vented his intakes. "Which part, youngling?"

Mikaela swallowed convulsively, her eyes welling up. "The part where you tell me that I'm not really human, and that I'm cybertronian."

Ratchet had never lied to a patient, he wasn't one to sugar coat their condition. He believed that they had the right to know exactly what was going on, no matter how bad it might be. He had never wanted so badly to lie, to tell this human femme that she had dreamt it. But, he reasoned with himself, if he did tell her that, it would only hurt her more in the long run... especially when it came time to put her into a larger frame. So, he again vented his intakes, and answered as honestly as he could.

"I am sorry, Mikaela, but that really did happen. You are cybertronian, and not a human."

Before he had even finished his apology, Mikaela had closed her eyes against it, her head falling forward to find her hands. Drawing a long breath, she nodded silently. Ratchet leaned forward to rest his arms on the worktable, gazing at her with gentle and concerned optics. A brief comm had Jolt quietly withdrawing from the medbay, leaving his teacher and fellow student to talk freely.

Mikaela peeked through her fingers at Ratchet before dropping her hands into her lap, revealing the tear tracks on her face. Ratchet activated his holoform to sit on the bed beside her.

"What's wrong?" he prodded gently.

Mikaela shook her head slowly, disbelief apparent in her expression, along with confusion and fear. "If I'm... one of you, how did I end up on Earth?"

Ratchet rubbed the back of his neck, a habit he'd picked up since coming to Earth. "We're still trying to figure that out. Optimus has been informed, and he told the rest of the autobots in the hope that one of them might have known something."

Mikaela glanced at him. "Did they?"

Ratchet shook his head. "No, unfortunately not."

Mikaela glanced down at her hands for a moment. "Why am I so small?"

The CMO smiled at this. "You are so small because you are so young! You're 19 earth years, barely a quarter-vorn. By cybertronian standards, you're still a newborn."

Mikaela's eyes snapped up to meet his own. "I'm a baby?!"

The holoform nodded in response, as Mikaela tried to process the information. The sparkling in disguise seemed deep in thought before speaking again. "Who are my real parents?"

Ratchet seemed to hesitate, trying to word his answer carefully. "We don't know. We have no record of any sparklings that have been born since Bumblebee."

Mikaela went back to her thoughts... then her face turned ashen as a terrifying thought occurred to her.

"Ratchet... you don't think..."

Ratchet was becoming increasingly concerned with her rising heart rate. "Calm down, Mikaela. What's wrong?"

She turned wide eyes to her mentor. "Just please... tell me it isn't possible that Megatron is my father!"

Ratchet's holoform closed his eyes and ducked his head. Mikaela started to gasp, unable to control the panic, a strangled scream erupting from her after each gasp. Ratchet grabbed her shoulders as he sent a comm to Jolt for assistance.

"Mikaela, calm yourself! We don't know who your creators are, Megatron is only _one _possibility!"

She didn't seem to hear him as she broke into hysterical sobs and started to back away from Ratchet, who tried to calm her as best he could. Jolt came running in, already preparing a syringe. Ratchet reached out and held a struggling, hysterical Mikaela to his chest as Jolt carefully administered the sedative. Mikaela seemed to panic even more as she felt the needle pierce her skin, but calmed as the medication pumped through her system. Ratchet sighed sadly as he felt her go slack in his arms, not letting her go as quickly as he might have with any other patient.

*******

Mikaela was quickly growing tired of waking up with the fuzzy feeling of a random sedative dredging through her veins.

'Do I even have veins?? Or energon lines?'

Finally able to think clearly for the first time in the last couple days, she started replaying the recent revelations in her mind... and found question after question popping up faster than she could process them. How could things have suddenly become so complicated?? How long would she live? What if the government found out? If the autobots were forced to leave Earth would she be forced to leave too? What would Sam say? What would her dad say? Did he already know?

All these questions and millions more were swirling randomly around her brain... 'Processor,' her mind corrected bitterly.

She curled up in the bed facing the wall, lights out, and sobbed for the life she saw quickly drawing away from her. Feeling lost and somewhat alone, she didn't hear the heavy footfalls of the large autobot outside her door, or the sound of said autobot leader kneeling and listening to her broken sobbing. Optimus gazed sadly at the door, wondering if they would be able to help their young friend through this trial.

*******

After spending a sleepless night of trying to keep control of her not so stable emotions, she barely heard the quiet knock on her door. It opened to reveal Ratchet's holoform, peeking in with a hopeful expression. Mikaela did her best to give him a small smile. Ratchet entered and shut the door behind him, drawing the chair at the desk to her bed so he could sit and talk.

Mikaela sighed. "Sorry about my little freak-out yesterday."

Ratchet shook his head. "You have nothing to apologize for, Mikaela. This isn't a small matter at all, it's a _very_ big deal! Both the discovery of your true species, and your unknown parentage. We had hoped to discuss your possible creators with you at a later time..."

Here he paused and let out a soft chuckle, a proud smile coming to his face. "We'd forgotten just how smart you really are."

Mikaela gave into a genuine smile this time, ducking her head slightly. Ratchet, however, didn't allow her to keep her head lowered, and lifted her chin until she was looking him in the holographic eye.

"Megatron is only _one_ possibility. It could be that your creators sent you here for reasons unknown, and are on some other planet, praying that you are safe somewhere."

Mikaela's expression fell once more. "Or I'm a Sector 7 reject..."

Ratchet patted her hand. "Enough. No more degrading yourself, I won't allow it."

Mikaela let out a breath. "But where did I come from?"

Ratchet's eyes twinkled with a rare show of mischief. "Well, Mikaela, when two bots love each other..."

Mikaela couldn't help the laughter that bubbled up in her chest. "You know what I mean! Jeez, Ratch..."

Ratchet chuckled along with her. "Alright, alright. What I want you to remember is that you are loved, and you are wanted, no matter who your creators turn out to be. Try not to worry about it, and focus on healing."

Ratchet drew the covers off of her injured leg, scanning and checking the mending injury. "It's coming along. I don't want you putting full weight on it for a few days yet, alright?"

Mikaela nodded her assent, knowing it would still hurt too much to walk on for a while anyway. Ratchet patted her on the shoulder before ducking out the door. He returned a moment later with a tray of food and a stern look.

"I expect everything on this tray to be gone by the time I come back, understand?"

Mikaela gave him a salute. "Yes sir!"

Ratchet narrowed his eyes, but smiled, shaking his head as he made his way back out.

Just as she was finishing up her meal, a loud knock nearly made her jump out of her skin.

"...Come in..."

The open door revealed an anxious looking Sam Witwicky. Mikaela could honestly say she'd never been so happy to see him as right then. Sam quickly crossed the room to his girlfriend's side and swept her up in a tight embrace. Mikaela simply held onto him, clinging to him as though he would save her from everything that had happened over the last few days.

After several moments of reassuring themselves that the other was safe and sound, they parted, keeping their heads together. Sam smiled in relief.

"They wouldn't tell me exactly what was going on, only that you'd hurt your leg."

Mikaela raised her head to look at Sam. "They didn't tell you?"

Sam met her near panicked gaze with his own. "Tell me what? They said you fell and busted your leg open... is something else wrong?"

Mikaela drew a breath to tell him... but nothing came out. How did one tell their boyfriend of two years that he'd been dating an alien in disguise the whole time?? Sam noticed her hesitation and grew even more concerned, hands grasping her shoulders in support. "Kaela, it's alright, you can tell me." he whispered.

She started with the moment she'd been injured, the instant she'd seen the blue substance leaking from the wound. Sam listened with wide eyes, but said nothing. Then, breath hitching, Mikaela revealed what Ratchet had said.

"Sam... Ratchet did a really in-depth scan of me and- I'm..."

She wondered if there would ever come a time in her life when she would be able to tell this story without succumbing to tears. She took another breath and continued.

"I'm not human."

Sam blinked at her. "...You're- what?"

The rest followed in a sobbing rush. "I'm not human. Ratchet found out that I have a protoform, and a spark, and that all these human parts are just a cover. I'm cybertronian!"

Mikaela had buried her face in her hands, not wanting to see Sam's reaction. Sam, for a moment, was stunned into complete silence. He kept his hands on her shoulders, trying to process just what she was telling him.

"You're... an autobot?!"

Mikaela nodded mutely, unable to find her voice. Sam sat there, still in disbelief, but seemed to notice just how much emotional stress his girlfriend was under.

"God, Kaela!" He wrapped his arms around her again, holding on tightly as he realized how scared she had to be. Mikaela tried to fight off a fresh wave of tears at his acceptance, finding solace in the fact that he was still holding onto her despite now knowing that they were not of the same species.

He held her for several long minutes, allowing her to vent as much pent-up emotion as she could. Over and over again she would apologize, saying she didn't know, and Sam would only shush her gently, and say it wasn't her fault.

After a small eternity, the tears finally abated, and a question had formed in Sam's mind. "Why are you so small compared to the others?"

Mikaela hesitated again, but knew this was an issue that was sure to come up with the other bots as well. "I'm small because I'm apparently really young... like, newborn young."

Sam's eyes widened, and he open and closed his mouth a few times before being able to form words. "You mean... you're like a baby or something?!"

Mikaela nodded at this. "Yeah."

Sam closed his eyes and lowered his head, his breath frozen in his chest. "Sam, I-"

Sam shook his head. "Don't you dare apologize anymore. None of this is your fault."

They sat together in silence for a while, neither really knowing what to say. Sam's next question was barely more than a whisper. "So... this means... we can't be together anymore, can we?"

Mikaela shook her head. "No, I don't think we can. I mean- I'm not even..."

Sam found tears forming in his own eyes hazel eyes as he met her blue ones. "Mikaela Banes, I love you, and that is probably never going to change. I understand, though, what's happened, and I want to continue to be a part of your life... if you still want me around, that is?"

Mikaela managed a smile through her tears. "Yes, Sam Witwicky, I want you in my life. And I will always love you too!"

They embraced once more, as friends now, instead of lovers. And Sam resolved, then and there, that she would never know. He was determined to never let her find out what had been in his pocket, what he would now go to return to the same store in which he'd picked it up. She would never know what he'd come in to ask her that day, what he'd been rehearsing the past couple weeks.

She would _never_ know.

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I cried when I wrote this. =(

Keep reviewing!


	5. Chapter 5

AN: Wow, you're still reading! Thank you! I'm glad I could hold your interest. We find out a little more about where Mikaela came from in this chapter... though I do want to say, I swear to Primus I hadn't seen ANY of TFA before writing this chapter! (my friend was like 'that's a lot like in TFA...') Those of you who watch the series will know what I'm talking about when it comes up, those of you who don't... you may disregard this lengthy rant. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: If I owned the Transformers... Ironhide would be my bodyguard, and Starscream would be serving me breakfast in bed... but I don't own transformers, so I'm feeling vulnerable while making my own damn breakfast. -_-;

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The next few days passed in a blur for Mikaela. Sam had gone back to Tranquility, needing to prepare for the upcoming semester. The only person she saw was Ratchet, who came in daily to check on her leg. As the days passed, the CMO was becoming increasingly concerned over his patient's mental and emotional state. On the third day, Arcee's holoform came in and woke her up. "Mikaela? Come on sweetspark, you need to shower."

Mikaela sighed, but allowed Arcee to help her up and limp to the bathroom. She sighed in frustration with her inability to keep herself upright. Arcee smiled gently and held her up. "It's alright little one, I'll help you."

Arcee helped Mikaela shower, then brought her clean clothes and assisted her back to bed. Mikaela noted that someone had come in and changed the sheets.

Arcee gestured towards the door. "You want to go out and about for a little while? We could watch a movie in the rec room?"

"No thank you." Mikaela replied sullenly as she snuggled back under the covers.

Arcee sighed, but didn't press the issue. "Mikaela? Are you okay?"

Mikaela shook her head silently, as Arcee's holoform sat on the bed and started stroking her hair. "Do you want to talk about it?"

The sparkling in disguise sighed, something she found herself doing too much of lately. "Sam and I broke up."

Arcee went silent at this, before nodding in understanding. "We were going to talk to you both about your relationship soon, I see you two beat us to it. We weren't going to make you break up, though. Ratchet believes you've matured mentally and emotionally as a young human adult..."

Mikaela sat up and looked down at her hands. "Yeah, but what about when I don't look human anymore? And, I told Sam everything... even about my cybertronian age range and- I mean, it would be weird for him, dating a..."

"A minor?"

Mikaela bobbed her head, raising her brow. "Yeah."

Arcee regarded the young bot in front of her, before reaching out and hugging her. Mikaela hugged her back, appreciating the girl talk more than she realized. Arcee chuckled. "You'll have to excuse me, I've never hugged anyone before."

Mikaela giggled with her as she drew away. "You should do it more, you're good at it!"

Arcee smiled, then reached forward to tuck Mikaela's hair behind her ear. "I'm sorry about Sam. Just tell me that you two aren't going to completely abandon each other, you get along so well."

"We still want to be friends. But, he's gonna be in college for the next few years, we probably won't be seeing much of each other except when he's on break."

Arcee patted her hand, then leaned forward conspiratorially, "You know, you have a long life ahead of you, you're sure to catch the optics of more than a few mechs someday."

The two shared a girlish giggle for a while, Mikaela realizing that Arcee had just given her the cybertronian equivalent to the 'plenty of fish in the sea' talk. Mikaela starting to ask about what made a mech attractive, or a femme for that matter. They spent the next couple hours in full 'girl time' mode, talking about boys, hair styles, fashion, and their cybertronian equivalents.

For the next couple days, Arcee would come in and help her bathe, then invite her out of her room to go and do something ...anything, but Mikaela always declined. The autobots were becoming increasingly concerned for their youngest member.

After another couple days, Ratchet decided they needed to bring Mikaela out of her self-imposed house arrest. Knocking and entering without waiting for a response, Ratchet came upon a surprised Mikaela simply sitting on the edge of her bed with the lights off. Moving forward, he opened the blinds, sunlight bouncing in with a cheerfulness that Mikaela just couldn't feel.

Ratchet took her hand and stood her up, starting to lead her out of the room, when Mikaela dug in her heels with a stutter of protest.

"Wha- Ratchet, what's going on?"

Ratchet silently moved behind her and continued to usher her out of her room, down the hall, and towards the front of the building where his alt mode was waiting. The passenger door opened as they approached, and Ratchet coaxed Mikaela in and shut the door behind her. The seat belt latched itself around her as Ratchet's holoform appeared in the drivers seat.

Mikaela fixed Ratchet with a look he was all too familiar with. Having been a medic for as long as he had, he was used to all kinds of abuse from his patients, both verbal and passive, and at times physical. The expression the sparkling was now pointing in his direction was universal, he believed, for patients to make their displeasure known to their attending physician. As Ratchet pulled away from the base, he pointedly ignored the heated look coming from the femme next to him, and concentrated on where he was going.

The next two hours were silent, but not the kind of awkward silence one would expect with that much irritation flying around the cab. This was the 'fine I'll go along with it but there better be a damn good explanation for this' kind of silence, the kind that promised an interesting discussion at the end of the journey.

The end of said journey brought them to the familiar landscape of the lookout. Ratchet pulled to a gentle stop, unbuckling the restraint around his patient and allowing her to step out into the morning sun. Ratchet transformed leisurely, before stepping past Mikaela and stopping near the edge of the small cliff. He simply stood and admired the natural beauty around them, turning his face towards the warmth of the sun. His companion, however, was watching him with no small amount of incredulity.

"Ratchet?"

He turned at the mention of his name, an innocently inquisitive expression adorning his facial plates.

"What are we doing here?"

Ratchet gestured towards the surrounding area. "Enjoying the day, it's beautiful out here. I don't get to leave the base very often, as I'm sure you can understand, so I appreciate every spare moment I get out here."

Mikaela's shoulders sagged as she sighed at the yellow CMO, before looking around the familiar spot. It _was_ a gorgeous day, the temperatures were in the low 70's, a soft breeze played with her hair, and there wasn't a single cloud in the azure sky.

"I also thought we might go and visit your father."

Mikaela's eyes snapped up to meet Ratchet's optics. "Wait, what? Why?"

Ratchet barely suppressed a chuckle at her stunted question. "Prime and I believe that he might know about your true nature, and we need to know if he knows."

It suddenly struck Mikaela that if her dad _did_ know, he could be in as much danger as she herself was. "So... why are we still standing here?"

Ratchet shrugged. "There's no big hurry. Besides, as I previously stated, I don't get out very often, I want to enjoy my little vacation."

Mikaela's expression had returned to the look incredulity she'd pinned him with when they'd first arrived. Realizing that the autobot was not going to leave until he'd had his fill of fresh air... or whatever it was autobots filled themselves with, she made her way to the lonely tree shading a spot of the outlook and planted herself beneath it with a sigh. The two stayed there for an hour or so, just silently listening to the Earth as she went about her day. Mikaela, despite her frustration with the autobot medic's behavior, found herself smiling her first real smile in days. She really loved it here.

Ratchet suddenly gave a great stretch, which brought an even bigger smile to Mikaela's face. There was really nothing like seeing such a large being doing something that seemed so ..._human_. Turning and transforming, he once again opened his passenger door, this time allowing his young patient to climb in of her own accord. As they made their way down into Tranquility, Mikaela was trying and failing to come up with a way to ask her dad a seemingly impossible question.

"How do I even bring this up? 'Hey are you really my dad'?"

Ratchet's holoform nodded. "That would work, it's short and to the point."

Mikaela closed her eyes with a groan, dropping her head back against the seat. Ratchet shook his head at her antics. "Just ask him. There's really no other way to approach it. It's going to be an awkward question no matter how you put it."

When they arrived at her street, Ratchet continued up the street instead of stopping at the usual spot around the corner. He stopped a couple houses down, giving Mikaela a reassuring smile as she slowly stepped out. "I won't be far, I'm not going to leave you here, alright?"

Mikaela nodded before lightly limping into the house. Michael looked up from the want ads in surprise when she came in.

"Well hey baby girl, what are you doing home so soon?" he asked while putting the paper aside and hugging his daughter.

Mikaela drew a deep breath and pulled back to look at him. Did he know? Had this man found her somewhere? But then why did she look so much like him? Michael noticed her grave expression and became concerned. "Mikky, what's wrong? What happened?"

"This is gonna probably sound really weird, but... are you really my dad?"

Michael froze at this, his face going ashen. "Where did this come from?"

Mikaela stammered hesitantly. "I ...found out something about, well, myself that would lead me to believe that you might not be my real dad."

Michael came forward, taking her by her arms. "Did someone threaten you? Are they trying to take you somewhere? You don't have to go anywhere with them, Mikky-"

"No no, dad, it's okay. I'm not being threatened, I promise."

Michael looked at her for a moment, then dropped his arms, swallowing convulsively.

"Dad?"

Michael took a breath. "Come here baby girl, I gotta show you something."

He led her outside to an old shed he'd always told her that she couldn't go into because it was so rusty and decrepit. When he unlocked and opened the door, she saw that it isn't nearly as rusty on the inside. Michael then went to the back, towards a large round object hidden under a dirty, faded tarp. He took a deep breath as he grabbed the edge. "I only hope that you won't hate me for what I'm about to show you, Mikky."

He flipped the tarp up and over a smooth metal object about chest high. Mikaela stared, seeing the cybertronian glyphs lining the seams of what she could only assume was the hatch. The metal was dark, though somewhat familiar in nature. Something in her at once lifted and collapsed, as she felt both relief that she wasn't related to Megatron after all, and fear of where she had actually come from. As she inspected the pod, her father began his tale.

"About 19 years ago, I was mourning the death of my wife. She'd died suddenly, a very unexpected heart-attack. Just days after the funeral, I stood at her grave, it was night-time, the stars were clearer than I'd ever seen them. As I stood there, missing her, and watching the stars that reminded me so much of her eyes, I sent up a prayer. 'Help me' I asked, 'Help me to find a way to cope, I don't know how to live without her.' No sooner had I said these words, when a meteor lit up the sky. ...or at least, what I thought was a meteor. I watched it shoot right over my head and into a nearby field."

Mikaela's eyes started to well up, she couldn't bring herself to turn and look at him as he continued.

"Curious, I followed after it. When I got to it, this craft was sitting there. You'd think, from the movies, that it would've left a crater or something, but left only a mark the same size as the craft itself. It was still smoking when I reached it, and I was able to see inside."

Mikaela let out a long breath and looked up at him, tears streaming silently down her face. Michael met her gaze.

"I saw a baby, a metal robotic-looking baby. If I had to estimate an age, I would've put you at about 2 or 3 years old, from the size of you. So, I thought, 'what is this little one doing in this thing? And where did it come from?'. Well, I moved forward to see if it was still alive, and when I reached out my hand... I tell you, I have never in my life before or since then been on the receiving end of that kind of electric shock! Threw me back several feet, knocked me out for a good while. When I came to, I saw the craft had opened, and there you were! Looking as human as I was, even had my nose! Then you opened up those baby-blue eyes, blinked at me, and started crying. Well, didn't have any other option at that point, I scooped you up and tried to calm you down."

Mikaela smiled through her tears at the thought.

"At that point I thought 'Well, can't be too much coincidence that this little girl was landed right in front of me after I asked for help, and I obviously can't just leave her here!' Figured someone somewhere must be trying to tell me something. So I carried you to the truck, strapped you in as best I could, then realized that someone might find the craft and start asking questions. Last thing I wanted was for you to become some kind of experiment."

Mikaela's thoughts turned to Sector Seven, and she barely resisted the urge to shudder.

"So I went back to the craft, and gave it a good hard shove with my shoulder. Found I could roll the darn thing. So I rolled it over to the truck, got out the ramps, took a hell lotta effort to get the thing into the truck bed, but I got it. Covered it with the tarp, strapped it down, and headed home. After I'd gotten it hidden in the shed, I brought you into the house, wondering what the heck I was gonna do now. I remembered then, my wife telling me she had always wanted a daughter, and even had a name picked out. So, I gave you that name, Mikaela. From then on, you were my daughter, I was your dad."

She was silent for a while, wanting to be angry, but finding herself unable. He didn't HAVE to take her in. "So, I... wasn't born on Earth?"

Michael shook his head. "As far as I can tell, Mikky, you were born out there somewhere." he said, gesturing towards the sky.

Mikaela took a deep breath to steady herself. Ratchet's holoform then appeared at the door, having heard the entire story. Michael looked up, startled at his sudden appearance. "Now who are you? Are you with the government? The military?"

Mikaela was quick to step in front of him. "No dad, this is the doctor that found out about me."

Michael gazed at Ratchet suspiciously. "Just how did you find out about this?"

Ratchet glanced at Mikaela as he examined the pod. "I fell at the shop, and I injured my leg." she said hesitantly.

Michael looked sharply at her. "You WHAT?"

Mikaela showed him the mark on her leg. "I fell, and I hit my leg on a car part, it left a gash in my leg all the way to the bone. Then I- I saw..."

Michael's eyes softened. "God, you saw the metal, didn't you?"

Mikaela nodded. "Yeah, and it was damaged too. There was this blue stuff leaking out. I knew it might be a bad idea to call a regular ambulance, so I called him." she motioned to Ratchet who was still looking at the pod. "He fixed it, don't worry."

Her father stopped at this, confused, and turned his eyes back to Ratchet. "But how would you know how..."

His eyes widened as Ratchet turned a concerned gaze between him and Mikaela. "You- you're the same as... are you?"

Mikaela took a deep breath. "Dad, I've got a pretty big secret too."

Michael turned towards his adopted daughter, a million questions dancing behind his eyes. Mikaela started at the beginning, with meeting Sam at the lake, then to her encounter with Barricade, meeting Bumblebee, and moving to her first meeting with the autobots. "Dad, this is Ratchet, the autobots' Chief Medical Officer. At least, this is his holoform. His true form is quite a bit larger."

Michael stared at Ratchet, who had finished his examination and was watching the scene unfold. He gave a nod to Michael at his introduction, and extended his hand. Michael hesitated a moment before accepting the handshake.

Ratchet offered a kind smile. "It's good to meet you in person, Mikaela speaks of you quite often."

Michael turned a questioning look to Mikaela.

Mikaela smiled "He's their medic, that's how he was able to fix me. But he didn't know about this until about week ago either."

Michael shook his head. Mikaela then listed through the events at Mission City, then the whole mess in Egypt, ending with her accident and subsequent discovery of her true nature. He turned wide eyes to Mikaela. "You knew about them for 2 years?"

"You knew I was an alien for 19 years?"

Michael nodded. "Point."

He glanced again at Ratchet, who had a sympathetic expression. "Mikky, I'm sorry. I'm sorry I didn't tell you, I was too afraid that you would leave..."

Mikaela came forward and drew her human father into a hug, Ratchet suddenly busying himself with the pod again.

"I thought I'd be more pissed-off than I am, but, I guess my secret was pretty big too. I'm not gonna disappear, dad, I'll come and visit as much as I can, okay?"

Ratchet turned his attention back to the pair. "Mr. Banes, rest assured that we aren't going to just spirit Mikaela away from you forever. We've taken up a semi-permanent residence on your planet. And yes, your government is well aware of it. I'm sure we can arrange for you to come and visit her as well!"

Mikaela took a steadying breath. "I'm gonna run inside and get some of my things before I forget, okay?"

Michael nodded and watched his pride and joy walk sullenly out the shed door. "Some father I turned out to be. I wasn't even there for her, got myself locked up just trying to make sure she-"

"Stop that."

Michael turned tortured and ashamed eyes to Ratchet.

"Mr. Banes-"

"Mike."

Ratchet smiled. "Mike, you were everything to her, you still are. She knows why you did what you did, and you certainly aren't going to be judged by either myself, or my brethren."

Michael let out a long breath. "Did I do the right thing? Hiding her like that?"

Ratchet's expression turned grave. "There are things that you may someday come to learn about your own government that will make you very thankful that you did. Now, no more of this berating yourself over the past. Without a doubt, you did exactly what her creators had hoped someone would do."

Michael frowned in question.

Ratchet gave the man a kind, grateful smile. "You took her in, and you raised her as your own. And in any culture, that is an act of selfless love."

Ratchet loaded the pod into his cab, intending to have Wheeljack work on extracting the information off of it. About an hour away from the base, he noticed Mikaela's heart rate and cortisol levels starting to rise as a terrifying thought occurred to the young femme. "Mikaela? Your adrenal glands are reacting, what's wrong?"

"I just thought of something..."

"What is it?" he pressed, alarmed at how pale she'd become.

"It's just... what if...?"

"Deep breath Mikaela, what's wrong?"

Mikaela took a deep breath. "What if my parents were decepticons?"

Ratchet's holoform winced slightly. "Ah, that had crossed my processors as well."

Ratchet thought for a brief moment before speaking. "Remember what I told you about the mass infanticide on Cybertron? Megatron gave orders to offline any sparkling the decepticons came across, whether autobot or one of their own. They wiped out entire generations, but keep this in mind. Even if your creators were decepticons, they loved you enough to hide your existence from the others, and send you out of harm's way."

Mikaela was quiet for a few moments. "But, if they are, do I have to go back to them?"

"No, little one, not if you don't want to."

Mikaela glanced at him hesitantly. "I can stay with you?"

Ratchet's holoform smiled, and his spark swelled with joy at her innocent question. "Yes, you can stay with me!"

TTTTTTTTTTTTTT

Nope, she's not related to Mega-trout. I should add that we're only about halfway through the story at this point, and there's a lot more to come! I've even got a couple sequels in the works... and maybe a prequel if enough people review. ;)

BTW, if you've never seen 'Transformers Mediocrity', go see it! It's on youtube and newgrounds. Hilarity will ensue!


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: We are all painfully aware that I don't own Transformers.

AN: As a reward for the wait, here's an extra long chappie! I also made a poster for the fic, nothing spectacular, just a small photo manipulation. The link is on my profile. Enjoy!

TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT

Wheeljack had excitedly but carefully extracted the pod from Ratchet's cabin as soon as he had arrived with Mikaela. Ratchet had threatened the engineer for trying to pry open his back doors before he'd hardly come to a stop, leaving Mikaela trying unsuccessfully to hide her snickering from the medic.

Pod now out and on an examination table, Wheeljack set to work, talking animatedly about what they could find out from the small craft. He had also admitted almost uncontrollable curiosity as to who her creators could possibly be, and began tinkering immediately with the file containing said information as Mikaela stood nervously to the side.

After a few minutes of enthusiastic typing and adjusting, Wheeljack accessed the file, and did a full blown double take, the fins on his head uncharacteristically blank. Mikaela's breath caught in her throat, what had he found? Ratchet leaned over to read the information over Wheeljack's shoulder... and froze, before reading it again... then threw his head back and laughed delightedly.

"Who would've guessed that... Hoist and Glyph! They _finally_ bonded!"

Wheeljack was chuckling along with the CMO, his fins now a blaring green color. "About time, there was enough tension between them... I think everyone else knew before they did!"

Ratchet was smiling broadly and shaking his head. "Who would've thought. So the organic shell _is_ Hoist's doing."

He glanced at Mikaela, who was watching the two mechs bemusedly, before turning watchful optics back to what Wheeljack was doing. "Your gift for repair is no surprise then, Mikaela, Hoist is one of the best! He was one of my colleagues, a gifted medic, and he enjoys every slagging minute of his job."

Wheeljack piped up then. "He's as stubborn as Ratchet, too. He won't stop working on you until you either sit up or offline. And even then, I've seen him work miracles..."

Ratchet had been glaring at the engineer for his 'stubborn' comment, but let it slide. He vented his intakes in irritation before turning back to the young femme beside them. "Now Glyph, your femme creator, is wonderfully adept at data encryption and linguistics, one of the brightest minds on Cybertron. She is also considered a great beauty."

Ratchet leaned down to look Mikaela in the eye. "They are both autobots, and two of the most honorable beings I know."

Wheeljack typed something in on the pod, and two holographic images appeared in front of them. Mikaela blinked at the images of the two cybertronians. "These are...?"

Wheeljack's fins flared an impossibly brighter green. "Your creators, Mikaela, your mother and father!"

Mikaela smiled hesitantly, seeing her birth parents for the first time. She moved closer to the images, trying to commit every detail to memory, as Ratchet and Wheeljack watched her reaction silently. Her cybertronian parents looked different from the autobots she knew on Earth, and it occurred to her that the reason for this was because neither of the bots being projected had Earth-made alt forms.

Her father was large-framed, mostly green, with a splash of burnt orange on his shoulders and legs. He had a visor over his optics that reminded her of Jazz. His left hand looked to be either a weapon or a drill of some kind. She would've guessed him to be slightly taller than Ratchet.

She then turned her attention to the other hologram, her mother. 'Glyph,' she thought with a smile, 'what a great name!' She seemed to favor a royal blue color, with silver accents on her slender arms and legs. She was noticeably smaller than her father, but not overly so. No weapons that Mikaela could see, and she must have said something out loud because Ratchet responded that Glyph had strictly been a scientist and researcher, and wasn't combat trained. She nodded absently, noting the shape of her cybertronian mother's optics... and Mikaela realized that she had her mother's eyes, even with the organic shell.

A thought then occurred to the sparkling in disguise. "So, what's my real name then?"

Wheeljack tilted his head. "Your real name?"

Mikaela glanced up at the engineer. "My cybertronian name, you know, my designation?"

Wheeljack brightened. "Ah, yes, let's see." he punched something in on the control panel, then frowned. "The file is damaged, it'll take me a while to recover it."

Mikaela shrugged, saying she could wait, then her face fell slightly as she turned back to the images of her parents. "Are they alive? My ...creators?"

Ratchet frowned slightly. "I'm sorry Mikaela, we can't tell that from the pod."

Wheeljack patted her gently on the back. "There is a message in here from Glyph, would you like to hear it?"

Mikaela swallowed, then nodded slowly. Wheeljack activated the message, and another holographic image of her femme creator appeared before them. As she spoke, Mikaela heard her own voice in her mother's tones, then realized that Glyph was speaking hurried cybertronian, and typing something on a panel just out of sight. Yelling, explosions, and gunfire could be heard in the background. A stunned Ratchet translated each word into english for her as Wheeljack looked on worriedly.

"_(crackles) ...can only hope to Primus that you were found by the autobots. My sparkling, you were never unwanted, or unloved. You were sent away because (crackle) no other choice. The decepticons are attacking the ship, and we plan to launch your pod soon. I pray that this experimental programming will work..." _

Glyph seemed to choke up, then turned to look directly at the video feed as she continued. _"My little Flare, your father and I will never give up on finding you someday. If we can follow you, we will, but it may not be for a long time. It is my hope and prayer that we will someday be reunited. Flare, be safe, and be happy, we love you!"_

The image of her femme creator crackled and faded to static. Ratchet vented his intakes sadly. Mikaela was surprised to find herself shaking, trying to restrain the sob rising in her throat. Her gaze returned to the two holograms still projected in front of her. They had never come. Could they have been killed trying to save her?

She barely felt Ratchet gently lift her and hold her to his spark as she lost her battle with her tears, barely noticed when he started clicking and chirping softly, as Wheeljack watched sadly. Mikaela found the sounds Ratchet was making strangely soothing, and eventually was able to stop shaking, her tears reduced to sniffles. Ratchet would later tell her that cybertronians made these particular sounds specifically to comfort a distressed sparkling, similar to cooing to a crying baby. They stayed like that for a while, Mikaela leaning against Ratchet's chest, drawing comfort from the warmth emanating from his spark.

Optimus walked in a moment later, hearing Mikaela's sniffling and Ratchet's chirping. Concerned, he turned a questioning gaze to his CMO as Ratchet explained what happened, his thumb rubbing Mikaela's back. Optimus turned sad and sympathetic optics to the young femme. He had seen this sort of sorrow too many times during the war. He reached out and trailed a gentle finger through Mikaela's hair, making a few clicks of his own, as Ratchet told him about what they'd found out from the pod.

Optimus was also surprised and pleased to hear that Hoist and Glyph were Mikaela's creators. He admitted that he had never met either of them, but had heard of them both as they'd had quite a reputation on Cybertron.

"Flare,"

Mikaela looked up at Optimus, who smiled warmly. "The name suits you."

Optimus' expression then sobered, and vented his intakes before speaking again. "The reason I came looking for you, Mikaela, is to ask that you become a permanent resident on the base. Knowing who and what you are, and how young you really are, it would put us all at ease to know that you're being kept under close watch."

Mikaela ducked her head, but nodded slowly. "I just wish I didn't have to leave dad behind. I know he's worried about what's going to happen to me now."

Optimus' optics dimmed for a moment, as he sent out a quick call to Major Lennox. He turned back to the sparkling resting in his CMO's hands and smiled. "Lennox and I both believe that your human father's skills could likely be put to use somewhere on the base, he need not be left out in the cold... though it isn't really cold outside..." he trailed off, unfamiliar with the human phrase.

Mikaela gave a slight laugh, shaking her head. This was going to be an interesting experience, living among her newly discovered brethren.

After some more tinkering, Wheeljack found that the pod contained audio logs from the ship Flare and her creators had been on. "They must have still been transmitting even after the pod was launched, probably to let whoever found her know what happened." he muttered, almost to himself.

He played an audio clip with Hoist snickering and Glyph giving out exasperated orders, along with another mech's voice, though Mikaela could barely hear it. She looked at Ratchet, who shook his head, he couldn't hear either. Hoist then said something to Glyph, who laughed, then cooed softly.

Then they heard a very _tiny_ chirping, clicking noise, along with laughter from her creators. Mikaela started, then frowned and leaned closer, listening as carefully as she could. The three mechs smiled, watching Mikaela's reaction.

"What's that sound?"

Ratchet chuckled. "That's you, Mikaela, before you took on your organic disguise!"

Mikaela glanced at him, surprised, before shaking her head bemusedly. "I don't think I could make that sound now if my life depended on it."

This drew laughter from the mechs, Mikaela giggling along with them. Her laughter died in her throat, however, as Mikaela was suddenly struck with the knowledge that this was a piece of her life. This was a moment she had lived, but couldn't remember. She was listening to her family, her life, before they had been stolen away.

Static, then another clip played. This one was definitely NOT an autobot.

At least three decepticons were yelling something, and sounded frustrated. Mikaela froze, then turned to Ratchet. "_Who_? Who are they?" Her tone was even, but dark.

Ratchet hesitated, glancing at Optimus, as Mikaela asked again for the names of the decepticons who had threatened and possibly killed her family. Optimus hesitated as well, giving her a measuring look.

Mikaela swallowed thickly. "I'm not gonna go marching out to seek bloody vengeance, I just want to know who they are." Optimus sighed, then said their names – Bonecrusher, Dead End, and Brawl.

Mikaela frowned, saying that she'd heard the names Bonecrusher and Brawl before. Ratchet confirmed that quietly, telling her that Bonecrusher was the 'con who had caused so much damage on the highway outside Mission City, and Brawl was the tank that Bumblebee had shot in the chest while she was driving the tow truck.

Mikaela thought back to that day, remembering the absolutely bone-chilling terror she'd felt at the sight of these two particular 'cons... now she knew why.

She'd encountered them before.

Mikaela felt a sense of satisfaction that she had, at least indirectly, taken some vengeance, even if she hadn't realized it at the time. Two of the three offending Decepticons were now dead, one to go.

She turned back to Ratchet, who was regarding her sadly. "What are they saying?"

Ratchet glanced at the pod before answering that it sounded like the three autobots had managed to offline one of the other decepticons on board and escaped. Mikaela breathed a sigh of relief, now there was hope that her creators were alive somewhere.

**********

Mikaela spent the next couple days in her room going over the audio logs from the ship she'd been on, trying to commit her creators' voices to memory, trying to remember those moments. And she got to wondering just what her life would have been like if she hadn't come to Earth. And the more she thought about it, the more her imagination began to get away from her. Images of autobot cities and being surrounded by nothing but cybertronians, not a hint of green leaf or blue sky in sight. Gleaming buildings towering over her as bots of every size and color jostled this way and that. Then it hit her like a tank, taking her breath with it...

_Cybertron wasn't like that anymore. _

No shining cities, no crowds of mechs and femmes going about their daily business. Memories of Cybertron, as Optimus had shown her and Sam through a hologram when they'd first met, rose unbidden to the front of her mind. Images of gaping chasms, dark thundering clouds, a lone injured mech picking his way across the ruins... only to be stricken down by Megatron himself, Megatron laughing as shells of dead mechs and femmes swung from the spires behind him. And she was overcome with the horror that she had, in fact, been given a glimpse of her former home... or what was left of it. She realized in that moment just how much they had lost... how much SHE had lost, when the decepticons had risen up. And she found herself feeling afraid, and more lost than she'd ever felt before.

Trying to calm herself, she reasoned that the bots were starting to make a new home on Earth. Even that, though, was tainted. She remembered what Galloway had tried to do. What if they made the autobots leave Earth? The thought of having to leave probably frightened her more than anything else. She didn't want to leave, this was her home! But she didn't see Optimus and the others leaving her there, either. And what if they did? What if the government found out what she really was...

A knock startled her out of her nightmarish imaginings. Optimus announced himself, and asked to come in. Mikaela hesitated, trying to get her breath under control, but called out for him to enter. He took in her distressed state and sat next to her, leaning forward to rest his arms on his knees, as Mikaela looked frightened.

"We've missed you around the base, Mikaela."

Mikaela didn't answer, and didn't meet his eyes.

"Do you plan on spending the rest of your existence in this little room? I think you might out-grow it at some point." He was trying to make her laugh, but Mikaela turned wide, tearful eyes to him. This worried Optimus, they hadn't realized that she had been so frightened. "Tell me what's wrong."

Mikaela swallowed convulsively. "I'm scared." she whispered.

Optimus' eyes softened. "What are you scared of?"

Mikaela took a breath. "Leaving Earth. Having to dive head-first into a world that's completely alien to me."

Optimus nodded slowly. "You're afraid of trying to adjust? Or being overwhelmed by a new culture?"

Mikaela nodded, her imagination again forming images of all-metal cities, surrounding her with towering bots speaking in a language she couldn't begin to understand. No humans, and not being human herself, but cybertronian, and expected to act as such. The thought frightened her more than she thought it would. "I guess the thought of a completely different world is what scares me the most, and that I'm a part of it whether I want to be or not... it's where I'm going to end up. What are my parents going to expect of me?"

"Mikaela," Optimus admonished gently, "you don't think we'd just drop you with your creators and leave you in an unfamiliar environment, do you?"

Mikaela shrugged at this, and managed to look a little sheepish.

"Ratchet in particular is very protective of you. You won't have to 'dive head-first' into cybertronian culture, we'll teach you a little bit at a time. We don't want to overwhelm you."

Mikaela was silent for several moments, and Optimus patiently awaited her next question.

"How long do you- we live?"

Optimus nodded in understanding. She had only expected seventy or so more years of life, and now she had found out that she was still a newborn. He drew a needless breath. "I've never seen one of our kind grow old. Though some, like Jetfire, start to 'age' if there is a lack of energon. Believe it or not, both Ironhide and Ratchet are older than Jetfire was." he explained.

This caught Mikaela off guard, as she realized that she was going to live for a very VERY long time!

After several long moments, Mikaela voiced her greatest fear. "I heard about what Galloway did to you guys. What if they ask you to leave the planet, will I have to leave too?"

Optimus went silent at this. That scenario had not crossed his processors.

"They don't know what I am, I could hide-"

"If they make us leave Earth, you and Sam would undoubtedly be subjected to any manner of tests. I don't say this to frighten you, but it is something you should keep in mind. If we are made to leave, we would have to take you with us, and we would likely take Sam with us for a time..."

Mikaela didn't respond for a while, frightened of the prospect of becoming a human experiment. Memories of Sector 7 passed through her mind 'Processors ...grr' and she couldn't suppress the shiver that passed through her, or the tears that flowed down her face. She was tired of crying.

Optimus laid a gentle hand on her shoulder. "And, aside from that, what would we tell your creators if we found them? That we knew who you were and left you by yourself on a potentially hostile alien planet? I don't mean to sound harsh, Mikaela, but we wouldn't _be able_ to leave you behind, do you understand?"

Mikaela nodded, a few more tears escaping her eyes. Optimus raised a hand to gently wipe them away. A knock again startled Mikaela, Optimus patting her on the shoulder as Ratchet walked in. Mikaela noticed Ratchet a little on edge, though she didn't know why. He came forward and checked her leg, announcing that she could start putting her full weight on it, then glanced up and noticed her tear-streaked face.

"Mikaela?"

Mikaela breathed for a moment. "...When we first met, and I asked why you were here, you showed me and Sam a hologram of Cybertron... it was..."

Ratchet winced, looking sad.

Optimus nodded sadly. "Yes. That is what's left of our home, after the war tore it apart. If I'd known who and what you were, I wouldn't have shown you that. It isn't an easy thing to see, and not what I would want you to think of when someone mentions Cybertron."

Mikaela drew a shaky breath. "Am I gonna have to learn to fight?"

Ratchet looked sad, still kneeling in front of her. "You're still far too young to even begin to think about training for battle, if that's what you decide to do. Younglings don't begin their training until reaching at least 4 or 5 vorns."

Mikaela stared. "Vorns?"

Optimus smiled slightly. "Do you remember how long a vorn is? I know we've mentioned it before."

"A vorn is about 83 years, so..." Mikaela does the math in her head, her eyes widening. "332 years old?!"

Ratchet nodded. "Roughly."

Mikaela just shook her head slowly. "What if the decepticons find out about me?"

Optimus' expression turned grave. "We're hoping they won't. We're telling as few people as possible outside of the autobots. I want you to be very careful who you speak to about this, I would even go so far as to have you ask either myself or Ratchet before revealing your true identity to anyone, understand?"

"Yeah, I understand." She turned an almost shy expression to Optimus. "So, are you my leader now?"

Optimus smiled at this, Ratchet looking... almost proud. "Yes, yes I am. That is, if you want to be an autobot?"

Mikaela looked at him incredulously. "What kind of question is that?! Of _course_ I want to be an autobot!!"

Ratchet rose at her outburst and sat on the other side of his pupil, placing a hand on her shoulder as Optimus raised his hands in surrender, a smile gracing his holographic features. "I asked because the universe isn't divided into autobots and decepticons. You may declare yourself neutral if you want."

Mikaela thought about this, but remembered the images of what the decepticons had done to Cybertron. She shook her head. "No. If there's anything I can do to help you guys, I want to do it. I don't remember Cybertron, I don't even know if I've ever been there, but I don't want the same thing to happen to Earth!"

Optimus nodded sadly, listening.

Mikaela's shoulders sagged a little. "But, I'm kinda useless right now."

Ratchet gently turned Mikaela's head so she was looking him in the eye. "I know this isn't something you want to hear, but listen to me very carefully. You're just a sparkling, a baby. We, the others and myself, fight for the future of our race. Mikaela... Flare, you _are_ that future! You represent _everything_ we're fighting for. We don't _want_ you to have to join our ranks in battle, we want this war to end so you can be free. We fight, so you can flourish."

Mikaela closed her eyes and lowered her head. Ratchet placed an arm around her shoulders, drawing her to him. Mikaela accepted the small hug, needing it more than she knew. She sniffled, trying not to cry again, but failing.

Optimus took one of her hands between his own. "Little one, we aren't going to let you go through this alone. You have a dozen uncles and one aunt on this base who would give their sparks to protect you, myself included."

Mikaela finally looked up at him, finding a warm and assuring smile. She couldn't help but give a small smile in return.

"You will live a very long time Mikaela, if we have any say in the matter."

"Thanks guys. I guess I'm not really sure what's going to be expected of me now."

Optimus' expression changed suddenly, and Mikaela recognized the 'leader' face he was now wearing. "There are a few things that WILL be expected of you, and I want you to make sure you listen carefully."

Mikaela frowned, but nodded for him to continue. Optimus gave a curt nod in return, certain that he had her undivided attention. "Your duties are as follows: Firstly, you will make it a point to smile at least once a day,"

Mikaela couldn't help the snort that erupted from her, nor the grin trying to break free. And though Optimus' expression didn't change, there was a twinkle in his eyes that gave away his amusement. "Secondly, you will make sure that our Chief Medical Officer does not bury himself too deeply in his work."

Ratchet even gave a snort at this, but was smiling at his leader. "And thirdly, no more hiding. You have a lot of friends on this base, little one, and we've all been worried about you. We want our Mikaela back."

She laughed then, she couldn't help it, and Optimus allowed himself to smile. "Do you understand your duties, young one?"

Mikaela nodded and gave a salute. "Yes sir!"

Optimus chuckled. "Good."

Mikaela then noticed that Ratchet, though chuckling, seemed a little tense. "Ratchet, what's wrong?"

The medic seemed to be thinking of how to say something, and pursed his lips in a very human gesture.

Optimus raised his eyes to the medic. "Ratchet, don't hold her in suspense, you're worrying her."

Ratchet looked at her, a sheepish grin coming to his holographic features. "Well, Mikaela, I asked Prime's permission, and he agreed. But we both thought we should ask you."

Mikaela turned a confused glance between the two. "Ask me what?"

Optimus smiled, glancing between her and his CMO. "Ratchet has requested to become what humans call your foster parent, or legal guardian, until such a time that we locate your birth parents. Since you will not reach legal adulthood for quite some time according to our society, Ratchet would represent and speak for you in certain matters, such as legal or financial situations."

Mikaela's eyes lit up as she turned to look at Ratchet, who looked hopeful, but a little nervous. A smile crept up on her face along with happy tears as she threw her arms around the medic with a relieved laugh. Ratchet returned the embrace gratefully.

"Did you think I would say no?"

Ratchet pulled back and looked at her. "I didn't know what to think. You're entrusting me with your future, and I really am honored. Thank you."

Mikaela pulled him in for another hug, which he returned with a chuckle, Optimus smiling beside them. Mikaela finally started to feel a sense of belonging, a sense that she was not alone, and that her newly extended family would be there for her.

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Awww! Story isn't done yet, lots more to come! =D Mwahaha, she's the daughter of Hoist! Glyph is also a real Autobot, but she only appears in the G1 extended universe. She is NOT the Glyph from TFA!

The last few reviews actually got _Prowl_ to smile! Let's see if we can get him to do it again! =D


	7. Chapter 7

Reason for wait: I finally got a job! And I've been busting my behind to juggle work, school, studying, and my faithful readers. =) Not to mention the anime convention I just went to... So again, sorry for the waaay too long wait, but I'm not going to abandon this story! Updates will come when I can post them, but while most of the story is written, most of it still needs editing. I've had people offer to beta, but I guess I'm too possessive. Anyway, the next chapter should be up MUCH sooner than this one was! And rest assured that this story WILL BE COMPLETED! It will not be abandoned.

Rant complete. Onward!

If I owned Transformers, I wouldn't be posting sub-par plot bunnies on a fanfiction site! XD

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The next day, Mikaela finally gathered up enough courage to venture out of her room. She strolled along slowly, as her leg was still quite sore. As she passed through the familiar hallways, some of the soldiers she knew on base waved and came over. As they greeted her and asked about her leg, Mikaela was struck with the knowledge that they had no idea that they weren't talking to another human! Then it struck her that she couldn't tell them that she was really cybertronian, and not human at all. Feeling guilty and oddly vulnerable, she gave a nervous chuckle and wandered away from the group, deciding to make her way to the autobots rec room. As she got to the autobot's section of the base, she passed a few other soldiers, and found the vulnerable feeling increasing as she met more humans along the way.

Mikaela understood why she might suddenly get a feeling of disassociation from humans, but she didn't understand right away why she was suddenly afraid of them. She wondered briefly when she had started thinking of humans in terms of 'them', and again pondered why she would ever be afraid of them. Then, her answer came stomping around the corner with a sour expression on his face.

"Miss Banes," Galloway practically shouted, "Your internship has not been approved, and you must evacuate the premises immediately!"

Mikaela could only gape, not having a readily available answer for that, and felt her pulse quicken. Now what? Should she just keep walking and try to find Optimus or Ratchet? Or should she do as Galloway _commanded,_ and maybe get just far enough off base so one of the autobots could just come and pick her up?

"Miss Banes!" Galloway bellowed, startling Mikaela. Just as she was about to splutter out a response to the belligerent liaison, a welcome voice was heard from behind.

"Is everything in order out here?"

Prowl's voice, as usual, was calm and even, as one used to dealing with things 'out of order'. His optics were almost casually scanning the both of them, trying to discern just what the liaison was shouting about this time. Galloway faltered for only a moment, before puffing out his chest and drawing himself up to his full height.

"Miss Banes is not permitted to be on base at this time, and must vacate the premises immediately. Her internship has not yet been approved, and won't be for quite sometime..." he turned a disdainful expression on Mikaela. "...if at all!"

Prowl merely looked at Galloway for a few seconds, before turning his optics to an obviously distressed Mikaela. Mikaela gave a slight shrug, as if to say 'well, I don't know what to do!'. Prowl tilted his head and his optics dimmed for a few moments, before turning his gaze back to a mildly simmering Theodore Galloway.

"Mikaela Banes _is_, in fact, permitted to be on premises for an extended amount of time for medical reasons. She is on NEST's list of protected humans, and was recently injured. As such, she is not permitted off base grounds without consent from Chief Medical Officer Ratchet."

This startled Mikaela, she wasn't allowed to leave?

Galloway was, of course, about to pop a vein. But any and all protests were cut off as Prowl reached down and gently plucked Mikaela off the floor and settled her into his hands. The liaison could only splutter indignantly as Prowl literally stepped over his head and continued on towards the Autobot area of the base.

After Galloway was left stewing in the hallway, Mikaela let out a breath and turned grateful eyes up to her savior. "Thank you, I wasn't sure how to answer that. ...am I really not allowed off the base?"

Prowl looked down her, his gaze softening, and a rare smile spread across his faceplates. "You are allowed off base if Ratchet gives permission, and a guard is available. We aren't holding you prisoner here, but you did suffer a somewhat serious injury. Not to mention your new status among us as a young cybertronian citizen."

Mikaela smiled at this, then noticed they had arrived at the autobots' rec room. NEST team members had all contributed something to try and make the bots feel welcome. Numerous games for almost any system were scattered around, and countless DVDs lined the walls, all available to play on the biggest LCD TV ever invented. Oversized couches were strewn around the cavernous room, and sound dampeners on the walls prevented too much ruckus from leaking out to the rest of the base.

Prowl glanced down at Mikaela, "I have duties to attend to, will you be alright on your own?"

Mikaela glanced back into the crowded rec room, smiling fondly at the gathered autobots that had become her extended family. "Yeah, I'll be fine. Thanks again."

The SiC gave a curt nod and gently lowered her to the ground, then turned and made his way up the hall towards Optimus' office. She turned back to the rec room, and entered quietly, watching the bots do whatever it was they did for fun.

Most of the autobots were relaxing around the large room, optics glued to the NASCAR race on the large TV on the wall. The Lambo twins had their hands stretched out before them as though on invisible steering wheels, leaning from side to side with each turn, revving their engines to match the ones on the screen.

It was Sideswipe that first spotted Mikaela. He and Sunstreaker suddenly made a sound like brakes screeching to a halt. "Hey! There she is!"

The autobots rose almost as one and started towards her. Mikaela instinctively took a step back, as anyone would when being approached by several large beings. She was saved from being almost crowded to death by Arcee walking in from behind her. "Easy guys, don't overwhelm her! Remember what Prime said!"

The bots stopped their advance, realizing that they were crowding her. Most sat back down or went back to whatever they'd been doing, offering smiles to Mikaela instead. Acree bent down with a smile and offered her a hand up. Mikaela smiled gratefully and seated herself on the elder femme's hand as she casually made her way to the other side of the room. Taking a seat and depositing Mikaela on the balcony which held many human-sized chairs and tables, Arcee eyed the approaching twins with an expression that said _"You'd better behave yourselves..."_

The twins had relinquished control of the tv to Jazz and Bluestreak, who were talking about how they were going to stomp each other at Halo. Sideswipe and Sunstreaker approached Mikaela slowly, visibly wary of Arcee's protective posture over the young sparkling. "How ya feeling baby spark?"

For the briefest moment, Mikaela considered asking them not to call her names like that... but just as quickly dismissed the idea, remembering that she was the first 'baby spark' they'd seen since Bumblebee. She instead offered a smile, and answered quietly. "Alright I guess, my leg doesn't hurt as much anymore."

"Doc-bot's not giving you too much trouble is he?" Sunstreaker asked, optics narrowed.

Mikaela couldn't help but chuckle at this. "He asked to be my foster parent until we can find out what happened to my birth par- my creators."

The twins' expressions turned to horror, Sideswipe's head lowering onto his shoulders. "_Oh Primus_... and you _agreed_ to this madness?"

"He really isn't that bad..." Mikaela muttered quietly, wondering if she could get away with laughing at the expressions on the twins' faceplates.

Sunstreaker muttered a curse. "Sure, he's not that bad to YOU!"

Sideswipe then put a hand up to his mouth like he was telling a secret. "If old Hatchet gets to be too much, you just let me and Sunstreaker know..."

A wrench came flying out of nowhere and hit Sideswipe on the back of his head with a loud clang. The red autobot cursed richly in cybertronian as Mikaela tried to hold in her laughter, though the rest of the bots in the room weren't even trying to contain theirs. Ratchet came in with a scowl on his face. "You really are not capable of keeping your vocal processor offline for ANY length of time, are you?"

The twins shuffled off, telling the laughing Autobots around the room to shut up, which only drew more laughter from those gathered. Ratchet turned exasperated optics to his charge and vented his intakes. "I hate to pull you away from all the 'fun', but I thought of something not even two kliks ago that made me hit myself with my own wrench..."

Mikaela did a double take, wondering if her foster father was being serious. She did notice a small dent just above his left optic that hadn't been there this morning... As the medic scooped her up gently and made his way out of the now rowdy rec room, Mikaela accidentally let a snort of laughter escape her. Ratchet's only response was the narrowing of his optics.

Upon reaching medbay, Ratchet set Mikaela onto one of the medical berths and went to the corner. Mikaela frowned in confusion. The medic had not been forthcoming with any more information since leaving the rec room, and Mikaela was wondering just what had him in such a state. Just as she was about to voice her questions, Ratchet returned with a human-sized cup full of ...something. Something blue and glowing that reminded her of when she'd been injured.

"That's energon..." Mikaela stated nervously, wondering why Ratchet was coming towards her with a cup full of the stuff. Ratchet nodded at her question.

"Yes, it is. What made me whack myself in the head was the thought of just how you'd been getting along so well without a steady supply. Then something else occurred to me, and made me wonder if you've been completely honest with me about your eating habits, youngling."

Mikaela's expression went from confused to guilty surprise, and could only respond with an "Oh, yeah?" She knew she was busted. Ratchet bent down so he was eye level with her, and had a calculating expression on his faceplates.

"Over the course of a week, when you are NOT on base, what makes up the majority of your diet? And don't scrimp on the details, this is very important."

Mikaela gazed back at him for a moment longer, before slumping her shoulders with a sigh. "Alright... I frequent fast food places. Over the course of a week I will have either a burger or some pizza at least once a day. I do try to eat healthy the rest of the time though!"

Ratchet looked as though he was holding back a grin. "That's what I thought. And though I disapprove of these food items... if that's what you can call them, they may have been keeping you healthy all this time."

Mikaela frowned and looked back up at Ratchet. "...huh?" Ratchet pulled a stool out from under the berth and sat down. "Do you remember the lesson about how cybertronians convert Earth's natural resources into energon?" Mikaela nodded silently, and understanding came across her face. Ratchet nodded and continued. "Your systems have been taking the oil from these greasy foods and converting them into energon. That's why you haven't starved all this time."

Well, that would make sense. And Mikaela now understood why Ratchet would have reacted the way he did. But then, why the cup of energon...? Ratchet noticed her gaze drift hesitantly towards the cup sitting next to his arm, and he smiled slightly. "I scanned you again as we were making our way up here. While the burgers and pizzas are supplying you with enough energon to survive, you could use quite a bit more in your system." As he said this, he scooted the cup over to Mikaela.

She simply stared at it for a moment. "What's it taste like?" She asked, glancing back up at her guardian briefly. Ratchet shrugged. "Your organic disguise created taste buds almost identical to that of a human. As a Cybertronian, I couldn't give you any examples to compare it to, as I've never tasted human food. I can only tell you that it tastes like low-grade energon."

'Great, no help there' she thought. "I thought that energon was harmful to humans?" Ratchet nodded, an odd expression adorning his face. "The disguise, though very thorough, is still artificial. It can, in fact, resist any negative effects that energon would normally have on an authentic human's systems. Not only will it not harm you, but you may find yourself feeling much better after drinking some..." he gave her a sly look. "...and I should mention that you're stalling."

Mikaela closed her eyes as a wry smile came to her face. Ratchet again scooted the cup closer. "Just try it, you either have to drink it or I have to inject it directly into your very much buried energon lines."

Grimacing, Mikaela lifted the cup and hesitantly sniffed the contents. Well, it didn't smell bad. Then, taking a deep breath, she put the cup to her lips and took a tiny sip. She let the liquid cover her tongue, then swallowed shallowly. It tasted... hmm... she took another, larger sip, and held the liquid in her mouth for a moment longer before swallowing. When she did swallow, she realized she could FEEL the energy flowing through her veins... or energon lines, she reasoned. She felt BETTER, _much_ better! The taste reminded her of static electricity, but had a slightly sweet aftertaste and wasn't altogether unpleasant. She took another sip and glanced up at Ratchet, who was watching her intensely. He smiled slightly.

"Well? What do you think?"

Mikaela looked thoughtful for a moment before answering. "It's an acquired taste." Ratchet threw his head back and laughed. Mikaela smiled and chuckled good-naturedly in return.

Ratchet gained control of himself after a moment, before adjusting his optics to scan her yet again. "Do you feel any nausea?"

Mikaela shook her head thoughtfully. "No, quite the opposite, actually. I feel so much better! God, I can feel the stuff going through me!"

The medic smiled and nodded, understanding. He watched her sip at her low-grade for a while, then his face turned serious. "There is another matter that I am going to have to discuss with you, Mikaela. I had thought to put this off for sometime, but I believe that the sooner you know about this, the easier the transition will be."

Mikaela stopped sipping her energon for a moment, curious and once again nervous at the expression on her foster parent's face. He vented and leaned forward. "Do you remember when I told you about how sparklings 'grow up'?"

Mikaela nodded, feeling only slightly uneasy. "When newborns reach a certain age, they're put into a larger shell, then they're considered to be in the sparkling or 'child' stage. After they pass time as a sparkling, they're put into a youngling shell, which is like a pre-teen or teenager. Then they're given an adult shell, which is the protoform they will inhabit for the rest of their existence barring any unforeseen events."

Ratchet nodded, secretly proud that his student, and now foster daughter, was as sharp as ever. "Correct. Now, you have not yet reached your first vorn, which is when a newborn is usually put into a sparkling shell. I'm telling you this first because I don't want you to panic."

Mikaela's eyes widened. She hadn't thought quite that far ahead regarding her own frame! Ratchet raised a hand, motioning for her to stay calm. "It's not nearly time for your transfer, but I do want you to keep it in mind. I'm going to have to play this by ear, as the humans say, because I don't know if your techno-organic shell is going to have an effect on when or how the transfer can be performed. One thing I have been concerned with is your mental state."

Mikaela's eyes narrowed as she heard this last statement. "We all have to go through a mental health check Ratch, I passed mine just fine." She muttered with a frown.

Ratchet nodded and smiled. "Yes, yes you did. According to human psychologists you are a picture of mental health. However, from a cybertronian stand-point, you've experienced a lot of trauma as a newborn, and now your processors are being effected by a grown human's range of emotions. When I transfer you to your sparkling shell, that shell is going to come equipped with some new core programming, language files, all kinds of new data. If you're still thinking like a human, this could cause even more mental and emotional trauma that may very well effect you for the rest of your life."

Mikaela couldn't breath for a moment. "New core programming? What about my memories? Will I lose those? Will I be a different person?"

Ratchet shook his head. "No, you won't lose your memories, nor will this change who you are. Your memories would transfer over into your new shell. However, you have to remember that if you were still a completely robotic femme sparkling, you wouldn't have much memory to transfer. Whatever this human guise did to your processors allowed you to easily learn languages and social behaviors. In essence, you became human! What concerns me is that because you are used to thinking in a human's mental capacity, when given all the new data, your mind might reject it. Then we would have to manually upload it, and as a result, you may experience fear and difficulty downloading new data for the rest of your life."

Now Mikaela understood. If one tried to cram a whole bunch of new information into her mind all at once, yeah, she'd be feeling very overwhelmed to say the least. But then... "What are you going to do? Can this be fixed?"

Ratchet was contemplating something, but raised his optics back up to his young ward. "Bear with me while I explain my idea. You probably won't like it, but it might be the only thing we can do."

Mikaela nodded mutely. Ratchet vented before continuing. "What I'm considering is to lock away a majority of your memories as a human until you reach your adult form."

Mikaela blinked a few times, then squawked an intelligent "What?"

Ratchet again motioned for her to calm. "You will still have your memories, you just won't have access to them until you come of age. If we do this, it may help you to not only take in the new data without difficulty, but would also help you make a smoother transition from human to cybertronian."

Mikaela took a deep breath. "When would all this be done?"

"I would lock away your memories right before the transfer, probably not for another 60 Earth years from now."

Mikaela let out the breath she'd been holding. So, she'd be able to live out a human lifetime as Mikaela Banes after all. She much preferred that.

Ratchet smiled and offered a hand up. "I wanted you to be aware of this, but I don't want it to interfere with your life as a human. Grab your energon, I'll take you back to the rec room."

Mikaela was still stunned, but managed a smile. "Thanks Ratch, for everything."

After being dropped off in the rec room and returned to Arcee's side, Mikaela kept Ratchet's direction in mind of making sure she finished her energon. Jazz had given up the X-Box controller to Sunstreaker and made his way over to her to say hi. As he approached he noticed her sipping on her energon and smiled. "Look at you baby girl, got yourself some low-grade there?" Mikaela smiled and nodded. "What do ya think of it?"

Mikaela, now under the scrutiny of the entire room, took a sip, lightly smacked her lips a couple times, then gave the cup a disgruntled look. Every Autobot gathered couldn't help but laugh at their youngest member.

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Another chapter done!

The thought had popped into my head that there is so much grease and oil in things like burgers, fries, and pizza, that why couldn't a cybertronian possibly convert those oils into energon if the need should arise? =)

Things are going to start getting more exciting from here on out, thank you guys for sticking around!


	8. Chapter 8

**Authors Announcement** I will probably not be incorporating the third movie into this fic. I kind of enjoyed it, but I felt it could have been so much more.

Disclaimer: I do not own Transformers, and I am not making any profit off of this work of fiction. This is something I do for fun!

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To say she was nervous would be an understatement. At first, she'd simply stood by the tarmac he would be arriving on. Then, as the minutes passed, she'd started to fidget, then taken to pacing a longer and longer stretch as she waited for the plane to show up on the horizon.

Eventually, Lennox walked up to wait with her. He stood and watched her pace with a bemused expression for a while, before reaching out and stopping her in her tracks.

"If you wear a hole in the tarmac, the repair bill will be sent to NEST, and we'll never hear the end of it." He said with a chuckle.

Mikaela smiled and ran a hand through her hair. "Sorry. I just... I hope he likes them."

Lennox patted her shoulder. "I'm sure it'll be fine."

Mikaela took a deep breath and nodded. "He seemed really excited to meet them. Everything I know about cars, I learned from him." She paused to chuckle. "When I started learning from Ratchet, Dad was asking me where I'd learned all these new things. And... I couldn't tell him, not really."

Lennox's eyebrows raised into his hairline. "You know you had permission to tell him, right? You didn't have to keep it from him."

"I know." She admitted, pointing her gaze at the ground. "I don't know why I couldn't tell him. I just... I really don't know."

Lennox put an arm around her shoulders. "Well, as a father, I can tell you that he just wants you to be happy. He knows that these guys are as good as family to you, and I'm willing to bet that he's gonna try his hardest to get along with them."

Mikaela returned the hug. She had never felt so guilty as she did at that moment. She decided that before the day had ended, she would ask Optimus and Ratchet to let Will and Epps in on their discovery. "Thanks Will."

She started to say something else, but was interruped by the sound of a plane approaching. Now her fidgeting was from excitement, rather than nerves. The plane made it's painstaking approach, touched gently onto the tarmac, and taxied endlessly until it rested in front of the hangar.

Mikaela started forward when the door opened and revealed her father looking as excited as she was. He trotted down the stairs enveloped her in a bear hug.

"Hey baby girl!"

"Hi dad! I'm so glad you're here!"

Michael pulled back and looked down at her. "You think I'd miss this? Not for the world!"

Mikaela started pulling him towards a smiling Lennox. "Dad, this is Major William Lennox, he's in charge around here. Will, this is my dad, Michael Banes."

The two men exchanged a firm but friendly handshake. "Mr. Banes, welcome to Diego Garcia."

Mike gave a curt but friendly nod. "Thank you sir. I'm excited to be here!"

Lennox gave a big smile. "Oh, just you wait. We're gonna let you see them from afar, first. People seem to react better when they can see them without being seen back. They're pretty big."

Mike put an arm around Mikaela. "Bring it on!"

As they walked, Mikaela leaned in to whisper to her father. "Dad, remember, Lennox and the others don't know about... me. Please don't mention anything around them."

Mike nodded to her and pressed a kiss to her forehead. "I won't breathe a word, Mikky."

Mikaela smiled as they continued towards the hangar. As they approached it, Mikaela glanced at her father. "You ready?"

"I was _born_ ready!" he exclaimed with a grin.

She chuckled. "Okay, just remember, they're big, but these are the good guys!" Mike nodded, and took a deep breath as they rounded the corner.

Rounding that corner revealed the interior of the cavernous hangar, with a few autobots and several soldiers milling about. Mike stopped short and gaped.

Optimus Prime was next to a balcony full of human soldiers, speaking in his commanding tones as they listened intently. To their far left, Ironhide was kneeling next to Epps, laughing at something the soldier had said. Near them, Ratchet was shaking his head, smiling as he read over a data pad.

"_**Jiminy Cricket**_... you weren't kidding about their size!" Mike stood just staring at them for a while, though he didn't seem afraid. Lennox peeked back at his face.

"You good?"

Mike nodded faintly, his eyes switching steadily between the Autobots and Mikaela. "Yeah... yeah, I'm good." Lennox nodded, then started making his way up to join the soldiers listening to Optimus.

Mike turned wide eyes to his daughter. "You gonna get that big?"

Mikaela shook her head. "Not as big as Optimus, he's the one by the balcony over there. I'll probably want to be a little smaller than Ratchet."

"Where is he? I wanna see this guy for real!"

Mikaela pointed to the CMO, who had noticed them and started making his way over. "That's him walking over. Hey Ratch!"

The chautreuse Autobot smiled down and kneeled. "Hello there Mikaela. Mike, good to see you."

Mike blew out a breath. "You too. Wow, this is unbelievable!"

Ratchet gave a good natured chuckle. "I can imagine this is somewhat overwhelming, but you had an advantage over almost every other human we've been introduced to, in that you knew about the existence of aliens prior to meeting us."

Mike nodded faintly. "So, this is what you really look like?"

Ratchet smiled and glanced down at himself. "Yes, this is me. The holoforms allow us to blend better with various cultures and races."

Optimus had glanced over and seen them, but opted to stay where he was for the moment. As Lennox had once said to him, 'You're friggin HUGE, Optimus!', and he didn't wish to alarm Mikaela's human father.

Ironhide, on the other hand, had no such scruples, and stomped his way over to the two humans standing with Ratchet. "So, this him?" he grumbled.

Mike turned wary eyes upward to the intimidating black mass of metal and ammunition towering above them. He turned a quick glance to Mikaela, who was looking more irritated and exasperated than nervous. So, Mike cleared his throat and introduced himself. "Yes, I am Michael Banes, Mikaela's father. And you are...?" He was inwardly pleased that he had managed to go through that entire sentence without his voice cracking.

Ironhide puffed up and brought his cannons out to bear. "I am Ironhide, Autobots' Weapons Specialist." His weapons spun as he said this, and Optimus deemed this a good time to intervene.

"Ironhide, enough with the cannons, put them away." he rumbled. Ironhide grumbled to himself but did as he was told. Optimus turned his attention back to the humans at his feet, and knelt down as much as he could. "Greetings Mr. Banes, I am Optimus Prime, I lead the Autobots."

Mike nodded and couldn't help the grin stretching across his face. "Please, call me Mike, and it's an honor to meet you...sir!" Optimus gave a chuckle. "It is an honor to meet you as well, Mike. Mikaela has spoken of you quite often."

Mike turned and put an arm around his daughter. "I hope it wasn't all bad!"

Ratchet chuckled. "Not at all, Mike. I can't remember a time when I've heard Mikaela utter a bad thing about you."

Mikaela shrugged shyly, before brightening. "Can we take him to see the medbay? He's been asking about where I've really been working."

Ratchet nodded. "We certainly can." He stepped back and folded down into his alt mode, an action which stunned Mike for a moment.

"Holy- they really do turn into cars!" He said dazedly. He watched as Mikaela simply hopped into the driver's side, and motioned for him to get in the passenger side. Ratchet chuckled. "Come now Mike, I don't bite."

Mikaela giggled. "No, he just throws wrenches and temper tantrums."

Mike chuckled as he settled in and shut the door behind him. "Yeah, I _have_ heard that part."

Mike was as impressed with the medbay as Mikaela knew he would be. He had wanted to stick around and see what every single tool in Ratchet's arsenal did, but his stomach had chosen that time to give a rumble, and Ratchet had shooed them both towards the mess hall to get some lunch.

After going through the line, they had settled at a quiet table in the corner where they could talk.

"So, Cybertron, huh? We finally know where you're from. And your real parents' names? Hoist and Glyph?" Mike asked between mouthfuls.

Mikaela nodded. "Yep! Hoist is a medic like Ratchet, and Glyph is like a data encrypter and linguist or something like that."

Mike nodded, impressed. Mikaela cleared her throat. "By the way, thought you should know, Ratchet adopted me, so now I have a cybertronian guardian too."

Mike watched her for a moment, then nodded thoughtfully and swallowed what he had been chewing on. "Good, he seems like a level-headed guy. I think I can trust him with my baby girl."

Mikaela smiled at this and giggled at the thought of Ratchet being called 'level-headed'.

Mike finished up what he deemed edible on the tray and sat back with a sigh. "Wow... blows the mind. Well Mikky, you got some answers now. You'll introduce me to your real mom and dad when you meet them, right?"

Mikaela teared up and hugged him. "You're my dad. You'll always be my dad!"

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The days that her father had been on base were some of the happiest Mikaela could remember. Mike and Ratchet had gotten into an all out argument regarding engine endurance and speed ratios, and Mikaela had been trying her hardest not to laugh at the sight of her father standing almost nose to nose with the chautreuse medic hollering that no matter the metal, certain speeds would break it apart. He hadn't budged an inch when Ratchet had hollered back that they had metal far superior to the 'stuff' that humans had slapped together.

Mike had ultimately returned home, however, with the promise of visiting again soon. He was still trying to find a job, and was doing his best to keep the house from going under. That had been a week ago.

Mikaela was sitting with Sam and a few of the bots in the rec room. Mikaela was making fun of Sam, who thought himself a champion of Halo, but apparently wasn't good enough to beat Bluestreak's sniping skills. Simmons was standing to one side, watching the goings on with an air of incredulity. As they were poking fun at Sam, Mikaela realized that she had not had her energon yet. Jazz offered to go get it for her, but she waved him off with a smile and said she'd be right back.

She made it halfway to the door before it suddenly opened, revealing a smug looking Galloway. Mikaela stopped in confusion as the Liaison stepped aside to reveal a handful of Military Police. "Miss Mikaela Banes," Galloway stated smartly, "You are under arrest for breaking and entering, and felony arson."

Mikaela spluttered, and could only manage a panicked "What?" as the MP's stepped forward and put her in handcuffs. At this, every bot in the room got to their feet, as Jazz was simultaneously telling those present to stand down and sending an urgent comm to Optimus and Ratchet. Simmons had moved from his position on the wall to step forward. He looked very confused, and was directing and somewhat suspicious expression at Galloway.

Mikaela, meanwhile, was about to have a breakdown as one of the MP's started reading her rights. 'Felony arson?' She'd served her time for what she'd done, but she'd certainly never set fire to anything! What if they found out she wasn't human? Would they experiment on her like they did Bumblebee? Now she was really getting scared. Keller entered with a sad expression on his face.

"Mr. Keller, please, you _HAVE_ to let me go!"

Keller shook his head and held out his hands. "There's nothing I can do, Mikaela, I'm sorry. They found an outstanding warrant for your arrest, my hands are tied."

The MP's started to lead Mikaela away, and in her fright, she made a sound that cybertronian sparklings made when they felt threatened. The moment that warbling whine echoed through the rec room, every autobot present unconsciously activated instinctive sparkling protection and defense protocols. Guns were drawn, visors were lowered, and everything in the room came to a tense stand-still. And for several long, silent moments, no one in the room so much as blinked.

This was what Optimus and Ratchet walked into. A surprised Galloway, nervous MP's, pissed off autobots, and a near sobbing Mikaela. Ratchet nearly shorted out when he saw his beloved sparkling in handcuffs. Just when it looked like the situation would escalate out of control, Optimus let out a booming "**STAND DOWN!**".

Both the Autobots and the MP's lowered their weapons at the command. Keller let out a breath he hadn't known he'd been holding, and glanced around, very confused. Galloway opened his mouth to say something, but Keller turned to him with a raised index finger, effectively silencing the liaison. Simmons whispered to Keller that he had been intimately familiar with Mikaela's record prior to Mission City, and there had never been any charge or warrant for her regarding arson.

Epps and Lennox suddenly came barreling around the corner, out of breath and taking in the situation with rising confusion. They had been speaking with Optimus when the Prime had suddenly straightened, whirled around, and shot out the door. It was Lennox that voiced the question on everyone's mind. "What the hell is going on here?"

After a moment of staring at the still tense autobots in the room, Keller explained as best he could. Mikaela was looking right at Ratchet the whole time, shaking her head. Ratchet gave Optimus a desperate glance before looking back at Keller. "Where will she be taken?" he implored.

Galloway didn't even look at the CMO. "That is none of your concern. This is a _human_ matter, and will be handled by _human_ authorities."

At the liaison's statement, Ratchet's own protective protocols started to activate, but he stayed where he was when he felt Prime's hand on his shoulder. Optimus bent down and quietly asked Keller to speak with him privately for a moment. Keller agreed, and they stepped to the side.

Lennox and Epps were still looking around in confusion. Just what the hell was happening here? Sure Mikaela's circumstances sucked, but why were the bots ready to raise their weapons? Keller was thinking the same thing as Optimus quietly asked him if they could arrange for Mikaela to be held on base during the investigation.

Keller regarded Optimus for a moment with narrowed eyes. "Optimus, just what in the world is going on here? If Mikaela is found innocent, then she'll be released, and nothing will go on her record. Why do your men look like they're just waiting for your word?"

When Optimus hesitated, Keller sighed. "You once said you trusted me. Has something changed?"

Optimus vented, and shook his head. "Only one thing, John. I'll explain everything to you. Perhaps then you'll understand our behavior." Optimus glanced over at Ratchet, who took his eyes off Mikaela just long enough to give his Prime a curt nod.

Optimus then stood up straight, and asked that Keller, Galloway, Simmons, Lennox, and Epps please join him in the conference room. Mikaela paled and looked imploringly up at Optimus. He turned and gave her a look that said 'I'm sorry, little one...'. Keller turned to the MP's and said that Mikaela was not to be taken from the room until they returned.

After the door closed, Optimus waited as patiently as he could while the humans all climbed the stairs to the nearby Autobot-level platform. To some extent, he was grateful for the slight delay, as it gave him time to word his explanation as carefully as he could.

When he saw the humans staring up at him, he cycled his intakes, and drew himself up. "I'm sure you all heard about Mikaela's recent injury?"

TTTTTTTTTTTTTT


End file.
